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Old 17th June 2010, 12:15   #1531
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At Kundanahalli junction last evening, while i am on my way home from work :

I am waiting at the signal, waiting to take a right turn to go towards Marathalli. There is a dude on a Thunderbird, wearing shades and looking the part, except that he has smartly hung his helmet on the handlebar. Showed that he loved his bike a lot.

The light turns green, and we proceed, with him in front of my car. The cop who is standing at the police box beside the junction runs to the road, and asks the biker to pull over to the side of the road. He has now blocked traffic, and makes the guy bring the bike to the side. So, "Whats the big deal?!" .. you may ask.

Nothing, just that the cop decides to ignore the buses which stop immediately after the junction to pick up and drop passengers, blocking traffic ALL the way behind, waiting to go towards Marathalli. What's more important? Maintaining the flow of traffic, or fining an errant motorist?

You decide.
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Old 17th June 2010, 12:19   #1532
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benbsb29 View Post
Nothing, just that the cop decides to ignore the buses which stop immediately after the junction to pick up and drop passengers, blocking traffic ALL the way behind, waiting to go towards Marathalli. What's more important? Maintaining the flow of traffic, or fining an errant motorist?

You decide.
If there is a bus stand there, then there is nothing the cop can do.
And i ask you what is more important? Teaching a motorist the value of his head or to reduce someone's travel time by 5 minutes?
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Old 17th June 2010, 12:24   #1533
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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
If there is a bus stand there, then there is nothing the cop can do.
And i ask you what is more important? Teaching a motorist the value of his head or to reduce someone's travel time by 5 minutes?
If not for the traffic cop, no one else can do anything about moving the bus stop further up ahead. And no, there is no official busstop there. More like out of habit in Bangalore, where buses always stop immediately after a junction with no care for vehicles behind.

About which one takes priority, IMO it should always be ensuring traffic flows smoothly, and then comes fines.
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Old 17th June 2010, 12:30   #1534
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benbsb29 View Post
What's more important? Maintaining the flow of traffic, or fining an errant motorist?

You decide.
Cop gets fine money from the motorist, but zilch from stopping buses. Such is the system....
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Old 17th June 2010, 14:16   #1535
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Originally Posted by benbsb29 View Post
About which one takes priority, IMO it should always be ensuring traffic flows smoothly, and then comes fines.
Sorry but this is selfish.
Just because a cop decided on a course of action that was not preferred by you does not mean it was wrong.
IIRC, some time back you were kind of vocal about a new traffic rule on the ORR that, although increased the flow, put you to some inconvenience because you had to travel some extra distance. I don't think you liked that either.
Please note this is not a "personal attack" but merely an attempt at understanding the thought process of a fellow member.

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Cop gets fine money from the motorist, but zilch from stopping buses. Such is the system....
Actually, recently there was a news item that reported the increase in fines that BMTC has to pay.
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Old 17th June 2010, 15:38   #1536
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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
If there is a bus stand there, then there is nothing the cop can do.
And i ask you what is more important? Teaching a motorist the value of his head or to reduce someone's travel time by 5 minutes?
Ok. How about the cops checking EVERYBODY's license and vehicle papers from tomorrow morning? You might lose "some" time. But catching them is high priority.

What cops do is let the big fish go...and catch the easy ones, tvs-50 riders etc. Coz' its easy. You'll be surprised to see vehicles (bikes / cars / buses included) jumping red light, when the cop is busy "dealing" with the biker.
Where does it put the cop's priority of road safety? Under his @$$ i say.

Sorry, this is no personal attack. But i see this everyday. Buses jump signals. Trucks follow. Bikers find those gaps and whizz past. Auto guys don't even bother about the signal. When all this is happening in front of him, he is busy checking papers! What CRAP!

Have you seen cops jumping in front of vehicles to stop them? What does it tell you about his brains?

-- Torqy
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Old 17th June 2010, 16:06   #1537
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Originally Posted by Torqy View Post
Ok. How about the cops checking EVERYBODY's license and vehicle papers from tomorrow morning? You might lose "some" time. But catching them is high priority.

What cops do is let the big fish go...and catch the easy ones, tvs-50 riders etc. Coz' its easy. You'll be surprised to see vehicles (bikes / cars / buses included) jumping red light, when the cop is busy "dealing" with the biker.
Where does it put the cop's priority of road safety? Under his @$$ i say.

Sorry, this is no personal attack. But i see this everyday. Buses jump signals. Trucks follow. Bikers find those gaps and whizz past. Auto guys don't even bother about the signal. When all this is happening in front of him, he is busy checking papers! What CRAP!

Have you seen cops jumping in front of vehicles to stop them? What does it tell you about his brains?

-- Torqy
Firstly, they can not stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts.
Secondly, only yesterday i saw a cop at the brigade road junction pull over an autorickshaw for jumping the red light.
Thirdly, expecting cops to catch EVERY offender on the road is very unrealistic. Does not happen in any part of the world.
It is quite easy to sit in front of the monitor and type away criticizing what we dont like instead of being pragmatic about it.
I am not saying that the cops we have are fine shining examples of law enforcers. My point is that when they do try to enforce the law, we go ahead and find fault with that as well.
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Old 17th June 2010, 18:37   #1538
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Quote:
Originally Posted by benbsb29 View Post
What's more important? Maintaining the flow of traffic, or fining an errant motorist?

You decide.
IMO, law enforcement is more important even if it means holding up traffic. The errant motorist should be fined and this act of the policeman should work as a deterrant to other motorists. Police should not chose to maintain a blind eye to violations.
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Old 17th June 2010, 18:43   #1539
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In Pune and Mumbai I have seen cops pull over 2 wheelers and even heavy vehicles to the side of the road. There will be one cop who will imitate Jackie chan in the middle of the road and direct offender to the shoulder where other cops will challan the offenders. I once saw a cop get into the passenger side of the truck and ushered him right when the signal turned green to a safe un clogging spot. This way they ensure smooth flow of traffic and penalise the offenders.
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Old 17th June 2010, 19:36   #1540
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Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
Firstly, they can not stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts.
Did you mean to say that the cops are not legally entitled to stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts? Or did you mean to say that they do not do that?
If the former, from my own experience, they do that (or had been doing that!). I have had been stopped while riding a 2-wheeler and driving a 4-wheeler.
If the latter, apparently, you're not informed of what's going on in the streets of Bangalore.
In the same breath, I've no qualms about being stopped to check the papers; on the contrary I do like it else how would they nab the ones running on fake papers or no papers at all (read 'stolen vehicles'). BUT, (yes, a big BUT), would that checking be extended to ALL kinds of vehicles including Government ones and evidently-not-fit-to-be-on-the-road buses / taxis? No, I don't expect them to stop a CM's convoy or a CJ's car - honestly! That's too much to ask for in India!
But impartial checkings with the sole and ethically / legally acceptable objective of checking is what a common person would ask for.
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Old 17th June 2010, 19:42   #1541
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^^Last time I heard the commisoner saying that random checking will stop and only in case of a felony will cops intervene.
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Old 17th June 2010, 19:48   #1542
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iluvcars View Post
Did you mean to say that the cops are not legally entitled to stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts? Or did you mean to say that they do not do that?
If the former, from my own experience, they do that (or had been doing that!). I have had been stopped while riding a 2-wheeler and driving a 4-wheeler.
If the latter, apparently, you're not informed of what's going on in the streets of Bangalore.
There was a notification that cops would not stop anyone on the road just to check the documents, atleast in Bangalore. They can only stop you if you are violating any traffic rule. Ever since this rule came into force, I have never been stopped to check my papers. If someone does stop you, you can ask him why you were stopped. There was one number where you could call and inform this. I'll try to find out if i have it somewhere.
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Old 17th June 2010, 19:48   #1543
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Quote:
Originally Posted by amitoj View Post
Firstly, they can not stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts.
Secondly, only yesterday i saw a cop at the brigade road junction pull over an autorickshaw for jumping the red light.
Thirdly, expecting cops to catch EVERY offender on the road is very unrealistic. Does not happen in any part of the world.
It is quite easy to sit in front of the monitor and type away criticizing what we dont like instead of being pragmatic about it.
I am not saying that the cops we have are fine shining examples of law enforcers. My point is that when they do try to enforce the law, we go ahead and find fault with that as well.
True.
Maybe you saw an auto getting pulled over. But how many just escape? I'm not saying a biker shouldn't get pulled over for helmet issue. He should be. And a cop cannot catch everybody.....but the issue is he DOES NOT even TRY.

But, look around, you'll see vehicles jumping signals, potential traffic hazards on wheels (e.g. trucks with iron rods jutting out, trucks with no headlights etc). But nothing happens to them. Our brilliant traffic cop does NOT see any issue.
And then he sees a biker without a helmet waiting at the signal. He knows this is easy prey.

What is more dangerous? A truck which ran a redlight crashing into you or a biker without a helmet waiting at the signal?

Yes, i'm typing away sitting at my computer and so is everybody else.
I drive to office everyday. I stop at redlight when smart people drive on the wrong side of the divider and jump the signal. NOTHING happens to them. WHY? They reach office in 30 mins where i take 90.

I don't expect cops to catch EVERY offender. In other parts of the world, cops are respected and feared. So the offenders are less. Here they're treated like $#$#. People know nothing will happen even if they jump the signal. And everybody does it. In such a scenario, i don't expect them to catch ANYBODy at all. Poor cops.

-- Torqy
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Old 17th June 2010, 19:52   #1544
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iluvcars View Post
Did you mean to say that the cops are not legally entitled to stop a vehicle just to check the papers, except maybe at border checkposts? Or did you mean to say that they do not do that?
If the former, from my own experience, they do that (or had been doing that!). I have had been stopped while riding a 2-wheeler and driving a 4-wheeler.
If the latter, apparently, you're not informed of what's going on in the streets of Bangalore.
In the same breath, I've no qualms about being stopped to check the papers; on the contrary I do like it else how would they nab the ones running on fake papers or no papers at all (read 'stolen vehicles'). BUT, (yes, a big BUT), would that checking be extended to ALL kinds of vehicles including Government ones and evidently-not-fit-to-be-on-the-road buses / taxis? No, I don't expect them to stop a CM's convoy or a CJ's car - honestly! That's too much to ask for in India!
But impartial checkings with the sole and ethically / legally acceptable objective of checking is what a common person would ask for.
When was the last time you were stopped to check for papers?
Jagran CityPlus

Quote:
Originally Posted by Torqy View Post
True.
And everybody does it. In such a scenario, i don't expect them to catch ANYBODy at all. Poor cops.
Interesting.
Remember couple of days back the trouble on Hosur road? You need to understand the problem a little more deeply before blaming the cops for being ineffective. It is our elected representatives that are sheltering the unions to get away with whatever they want to do.

Last edited by amitoj : 17th June 2010 at 20:05.
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Old 17th June 2010, 20:57   #1545
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Yes, i was stopped only twice in the last 3 years....and it wasn't because of any traffic offence.

What i'm trying to say is they catch ONLY the small hapless fish while letting the WHALES go.

Our cops don't even consider driving on the wrong side as an offence. Where in the world will you find such gems?

-- Torqy
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