Caught by the Cops

Being Fined by Traffic Cops

Yesterday evening I was stopped by a traffic cop near the RTC X Roads while returning home from office. Apparently, I had my bike’s number plate all wrong. I was fined fifty rupees by the traffic sub-inspector for violating Section R 80 (a) 177 (Without/irregular number) of the Motor Vehicle Act. In the twelve years that I have been driving my bike, I have never been stopped for this violation. This was the first time. I did not argue with the cop but paid the fine and drove away.

At the back of the challan receipt was a list of all the traffic violations one can be fined for. There were thirty one violations, and the fines and compounding fines ranged from Rs 50 (the minimum) to Rs 2000 ( for driving without registration papers). The most interesting violation I found was about driving in drunken condition for which one will be charge sheeted and produced in court of law. Sometime back the traffic cops had undertaken a drive to detect drunken driving but nowadays they don’t seem to be doing it.

Nowadays there is a lot of noise being made about following traffic rules and the need to educate the motorists about the rules which is a good thing. Back in the eighties when one needed a driving licence in Hyderabad one only had to tell someone and within days the licence would be yours. We didn’t have to take any sort of driving test or get tested about the prevailing rules or anything like that . It lead to a situation where many of us are ignorant of not only the Motor Vehicle rules we don’t even the know where the RTA offices are located! (That was only a joke and not to be taken seriously.)

The Direct Autowallah

While driving home from Secunderabad yesterday evening I saw this on the back of an autorickshaw:

‘No Compromise. Only Punch’.

The autowallah has made it very clear what he would do in case you happened to enter into an argument with him or get involved in an accident with his autorickshaw. I did not remember to take down the number of the autorickshaw.