Lucknow: Don't be surprised if you see traffic policemen extending roses and eclairs to motorists jumping the red light or breaching other rules. The police have decided to embrace gandhigiri.
Lucknow's new Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Arvind Sen feels gandhigiri, a la Bollywood flick Munna Bhai MBBS, is needed to restore sanity on roads.
Sen told IANS that fines and penal action were having little effect in curbing traffic violations.
"We cut thousands of challans [tickets] every day but the situation remains the same," he said, pointing out that the new effort had embarrassed traffic violators, more so if they were with their families.
Major junctions on the radar
The drive has been set rolling on all major roads, traffic intersections and busy thoroughfares.
"The idea is to make people see that they are the sufferers of traffic violations, with some paying with their precious life in the end," Sen said.
The offer of a toffee to the son of an erring motorist on Tuesday had the desired effect. Police here, on an average, hand out over a thousand tickets to traffic violators.
The main violations involve jumping the red light, driving over the zebra line, driving while talking on the mobile phone, and driving without seat belt or helmet.
