I had been residing in New Delhi many years back and the traffic conditions were chaotic then... not a single day went by without a major accident happening with at least 2-3 fatalities... one used to be scared of stopping at a red light lest the person behind you rammed you as he did not think stopping at a red light was required... I moved out from New Delhi and came to Pune to lead a so called peaceful life...  Well that was not to happen... I found traffic conditions more chaotic than Delhi... drivers here were just not intersted in following any sort of rules and most of the time were uncouth and rude if you tried to reason with them... Two wheelers and three wheelers were the worst possible to deal with... subsequently, I got used to getting shown the middle finger and / or glares by the two wheeler riders if I followed traffic rules... However, in my last visit to New Delhi I was pleasantly surprised to see that traffic conditions had almost come back to normal and most people were following rules... More surprising was the total absence of traffic policemen at the signals... On further enquiry I was made to understand that for last several years, a new system had come to being... all traffic policemen were moving in plain clothes and for any infringement of rules the no. of the vehicle was noted and sent to the RTO office from where a notice is sent to the owner of the vehicle to go to the court on a particular day and deposit the fine applicable.. if you plead not guilty you could file a case against the ticket issued... In spite of the culture in Delhi for being larger than life, I found most Delhites coming down to the basics and following traffic rules as it is a pain for any vehicle owner to spend almost half a day in the court for paying a fine... Another fallout of this method is the decrease in bribery as the policemen can no longer apprehend the traffic rule breaker to extract chai paani but can only issue an indirect notice to the vehicle owner... Since the traffic police in Pune are wholly not able to contain the mass of traffic rule breakers, why can we not have a similiar system in Pune as in Delhi as the results are there for everyone to see in Delhi... I think we should Go The Delhi Way...

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