Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Street Experiences (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/)

-   -   Traffic and life on the roads in Chennai (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/street-experiences/68789-traffic-life-roads-chennai-20.html)

Though I was born and brought up in Hyderabad, by virtue of my profession, I've had the opportunity to drive at many cities and towns across India. I found that cops of Delhi and Chennai are by far very professional. I feel sad that my hometown cops are no match.

They're professionals in "adjusting" things to their advantage :Frustrati

There are some good guys too. I myself witnessed an incident last year: It was at the Tiruvanmiyur signal. A goods 3-wheeler jumped the signal from the Adyar side of LB Road to cross the junction. There was a patrol car parked near the signal. The policeman regulating the traffic made the offender stop. I saw the driver being led to the car. I saw him take out some currency and stretch it to the officer (probably an SI or ASI). The policeman just slapped that guy and he was given a challan. From whatever I could make out of their conversation, the cop was swearing at him for attempted bribing. He was using some very 'nice' words.

We , the road users have to blame ourselves for making the policemen corrupt. How many of us are prepared to accept our mistakes and pay the fine taking the legal route. If we follow the rules and in case of a violation,decide to accept and pay the fine, how can a policeman become corrupt. Let's change ourselves before blaming the police.

:uncontrol Good retort.


You see, good and bad cops are in all places. I've interacted with a really brilliant officer in Hyderabad Police, manning their cyber crime division.


I was comparing the professionalism of the overall Police setup.

I beg to differ. Here's why: In regards to traffic police personnel in India, corruption often construes bribery. While given a choice, an average person would tend to bribe a policeman an amount less than the stipulated fine than paying the fine itself, the avenue becomes open only when the policeman accepts it too. So the bribe-giver and bribe-taker are more or less equally at blame. On the other hand, if one is quite straight-forward and law-abiding it's quite common (at least not uncommon) that the police would give one a real tough time. There are umpteen instances that people have had shared in various forums. One is pushed to the wall such as leave one's vehicle at the spot, get the fine paid in a distant venue, come back and take the vehicle back. Haven't you heard of stories that the police quote their "prices" versus the stipulated fine and persuade people to pay them? The corruption that we see with the Indian traffic policemen is just a miniature version of the cancer that has been eating the Indian democracy for quite a while. Like all other domains of corruption, there are several factors that one can attribute the corruption in traffic police too to - the attitude of the common man is just one among those and definitely not the lone factor.
Why can't the issuance of penalty be as straight as below?
1. Stop the vehicle (the one that violated a rule)
2. Collect the driver's DL and the vehicle documents.
3. If everything is in order, ticket the driver for the violation and let him go (unless the instance warrants otherwise)
4. The driver pays the fine in a court or contest the ticket.
5. If he doesn't pay the ticket that he ought to, the law catches up with him!
Unless the above happens, traffic policemen and corruption will continue to be like chappathi and kuruma. :D

I agree with you that policemen try to scare you but if know the basic rules you can stand firm.

1. A constable can't spot fine you. He can note your number and mail you a challan.

2. An officer can spot fine you. They tend to book on various section so as increase the fine to around Rs.500. For example if you overshoot a signal you may be charged for stop line violation and dangerous driving. If your papers are not in order you are in for more trouble.

3. If stopped by an officer, the best way is to accept the mistake, apologise and ask him to fine you the minimum. You can get away paying around Rs.200.

4. They can't seize your car or ask you leave the car for small violations.

5. Be polite but firm.

6. Last but the most important , drive safe , follow the rules and avoid all the hassels.

I was passing Saidapet, maybe 10pm, that i saw a huge crowd opposite to the Saidapet bus stand. And there was an ambulance wading thru traffic on the wrong side, going towards Nandanam. There were a few police vehicles and a flat-bed truck as well. An MTC volvo was seen in the middle of the crowd. Anyone know what happened?

Shollinganallur junction has got to be one of the worst place on earth during peak hours. Due to heavy traffic coming from medavakkam towards the junction, they engage 3 tolls for that direction. The number of vehicles and bikes coming through is more than that road can take, and with each signal staying red for 5 minutes, the bikes and share autos occupy 3 sometimes even 3 and a half lanes out of 4 and refuse to give way. Horrible experience everyday in the morning going against these idiots, especially after already haven driven more than 20 odd km to get that far.
Add to this people (note: educated IT professionals) make it a point to cross correctly when the signal goes green and vehicles are coming in that direction.

@pras.oct25: 100% accurate. I had felt many times that we should get out of the car and request them to watch which way the signal is on and NOT to cross the road, so that vehicles can pass by.

Blocking the free left of major junctions is a common practice in Chennai. For example: Vijayanagar (velachery) signal. Buses towards Madipakkam/Medavakkam will stop (cascading) the entire side of Ganga sweets. Vehicles from Taramani link road will have a green signal, but cannot move an inch (there are two signals for the traffic from this side in a matter of 25 mts distance)

You are right Educated People do these to my surprise:
It happened to me last week when I was at Sholinganallur Junction. A well educated (looks like) lady waved me to stop so that she can cross over. I permitted her, since the vehicles ahead are already waiting at the junction for a signal. After this I am waiting for this lady to cross the road, and she is standing there looking at the cellphone (in the middle of the road). Out of her mind?

@NFS I have found that making way is hardly the way to go. People just take more advantage. Apparently its ok for people to go on the wrong lane and go in wrong direction on a one way, but if we drive a little fast they'll start making gestures at us. I always go and stop right in front of anyone who is going on the wrong side and heading towards me. If it holds up traffic, he will anyway get a mouthful from the other vehicles behind me.
Lane hogging is another pain. People will force you to overtake on the left, and that itself is a cause for many accidents. Auto's stopping randomly, people having to walk on the road due to lack of sidewalks, illegal parking of bikes and vehicles, cows, what not!
There seems to be no end to all this. THe roads of chennai unearth new clowns on a daily basis. No amount of turning the music volume up will keep you distracted from all the honking and tom foolery that goes on around you.

Please do Not do this. Once my cousin asked me, What if the other guy's brakes are faulty? or if your brakes go faulty etc. Soon I realized driving a vehicle straight on to some one is like pointing a loaded gun on to their face. What if it fires accidentally. Please do NOT educate others how to drive. They will never learn nor understand. They think by doing this they are really smart, because in India, we are educated to compete everywhere ("let us see who is first").

Drive safely

Strongly agree to this; if one knows the law (more than basic rules, but not the extent of IPC) very well, we can get over with little or no hassles.

Strongly accept this point; accepting one's mistake instead of giving a sheepish smile & calling "saar saar" will definitely give the first impression that I'm ready to pay the fine; yes, I would also request to fine less rather than bribing.

Any idea on what occassion they would ask to drive to court/police station? I'm under the impression that the vehicle will be possesed by the cops when one's life is under threat, like accident. Are there any such incidents for posesessing a vehicle?

+1

Well, we abide the law & sometimes, we're forced to violate by the morons who don't. Typical example is lane hoggers & the creatures that drive on both the lanes :Frustrati

Thanks for the warning; I do exactly like Pras sometimes as I can't hold to see someone violating the law during broad Sunlight. But this has got me thinking, I should stop messing up with people who're violating law, atleast for the sake of my family.

I am not very sure on this. If you are involved in accident with third party damage (vehicle or person) and if you or the other party prefer a complaint, then you and your vehicle have to go the police station. The vehicle may be detained for brake testing and you have to under go test for alcohol.

I would also like to know more on this.

Yes for the sake of everyone's family! I always tell myself, the stupid driver violating the rules and making all these havoc has an innocent family, waiting form him to reach home. That is why we at TeamBHP say "Drive Responsibly".

Guys..recently shifted to pammal and need to travel around 4kms inside pallavaram to reach my home.
Cabs,4wheeled autos,lorries,sumos all come with their high beams blazing at me and i am unable to concentrate.Highly annoying.
Only 1 out of 100 vehicles respond if i dip my lights.Remaining all don't care whether i use high beam or low beam.
Driving in nights has become a nightmare for me nowadays.
Any cheap options to modify my lights so that i can make other people dip their lights?