Road Rage

Stringent action seem to be the only remedy against abusive motorists.

Negotiating traffic in our metropolitan cities has become a nightmare. Not just during peak hours,when arterial roads become clogged and vehicles inch at a snails pace,but through the day,be it midnight or high noon. With an estimated 500 vehicles being added on our streets daily,it is little wonder that the situation has become dire. Incidents of road rage are frequent as irate motorists vent their frustration at pedestrians,other drivers and,in an alarming new trend,at traffic policemen.

In Delhi recently,a corporate boss was booked for abusing and assaulting a policewoman on duty. The 50-year-old CEO of a consultancy firm apparently lost his cool after being pulled over for driving on the wrong side by an all-woman cop team. But instead of admitting his guilt,he allegedly used abusive language on a 32-year-old assistant sub-inspector,and pushed her several times after stepping out menacingly from his Mercedes.

Despite the heavy police presence and a request from the female officer that this man be arrested,he blithely drove off and was only apprehended after the matter was brought to the attention of the local DCP. The affluent corporate honcho was booked for criminal intimidation,insulting the modesty of a woman,assault,using obscene language,rash driving and obstructing a public servant from doing his/her duty. He was later let off on bail and will no doubt use all the resources at his disposal to go scot-free.

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In Mumbai,an effort by the traffic police to enforce a Supreme Court ban on tinted windows has resulted in scores of irate motorists daily abusing policemen for pulling them over. I recently witnessed the formidable and ferocious Dolly Bindra foaming at the mouth as she harangued the hapless cops who happened to stop her. Ms Bindra,who became a household name after her appearance on Bigg Boss,is not a lady to be trifled with. A large crowd gathered as this battle-axe let loose a volley of colourful expletives and then yanked out her camera phone to take pictures of the policemen who had had the temerity to penalise her the princely sum of a hundred rupees. Between guttural roars,she screamed that she wasnt prepared to fork out a fine because there were other cars on the road with tinted windows. Dolly volubly demanded that the cops first stop and fine everyone else and only then would she cough up. This perverse line of reasoning continued for half an hour and I left without determining the outcome of the roadside tamasha.

As a society,we are developing lower thresholds of tolerance and give vent to our anger at the slightest provocation. Assaulting,even abusing,a policeman was considered anathema and even hardened criminals would think twice before messing with a man or woman in khaki. I wonder if we believe that traffic cops are a softer bunch and one can get away with intimidating them because they hail from a lower income stratum. When pulled over for a traffic offence,our first instinct was to bribe the havaldar on duty. Nowadays,we think nothing of publicly berating them.

Perhaps stringent action against those that abuse our public servants will instil fear,if not respect,in the hearts of abusive motorists.

samarofdiscontent@gmail.com

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