In a bid to reduce the number of verbal and physical altercations between traffic personnel and a motorist, most likely a traffic violator, Yashasvi Yadav, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) has issued a circular asking its personnel to mandatorily practice politeness and address citizens with respect. The move comes to the fore after a number of scuffles broke out between the motorists and policemen when one was caught violating the rules.
According to the circular, the traffic police have been asked to address the citizens as 'sir', 'madam', 'shriman' or 'shrimati'. A senior traffic official said that policemen will address everyone with the utmost respect and do their duty of collecting fine according to the law if caught breaking the rules.
"The politeness and respectful conversations will largely aid in better communication between the police and the public. At present, most of the time, policemen and motorists are at loggerheads, which is not at all helpful to strike a peaceful conversation," said the official.
The circular stated that traffic policemen have been given a week's time to soften their tone and follow the new instructions of talking with politeness, failing which administrative action will be initiated. "It was observed that rudeness and tone of high handedness of policemen were deemed to be the main cause of arguments, which is why the step to use polite tone was made mandatory," a traffic policeman said.
The non-cooperation between a traffic cop and violator also results in the assault on the former, which had compelled the Mumbai Traffic Police to undertake a survey, which helped them identify 130 vulnerable spots in the city, where on-duty officers are most unsafe. Some of the roads include Yari Road in Andheri (W), Juhu Chowpatty Road, nakabandis along the Western Express Highway (WEH), and key areas like the Bandra end of the Bandra Worli Sea Link (BWSL).
