Helmet drive with sweets at CCpur:Novel approach

It is chaos out there. Wearing the devil may care attitude and one sees them whenever one steps out on the road of Imphal every day. They zoom around, over take from the left and park anywhere they like. Safe driving is definitely not on their agenda and with the traffic cops more occupied in ensuring that other motorists stick to the traffic signals of red, green and orange and respect the zebra crossings, no one seems to care whether the basic safety norms are followed by all concerned or not. This is basically about Imphal but move outside the capital city and go to any of the bigger and more important towns and there is no reason to believe that things would be any different, though the traffic volume may be lesser. It is here that the recent steps taken up by Churachandpur police to persuade two wheeler dirvers to don helmets while driving should be acknowledged. Ingenuous and novel and yes coupled with a move to embarass the reckless drivers, it is a refresing change to see Churachandpur police adopting an approach that has not been seen in Manipur. Instead of pulling up two wheeler drivers for moving around without helmets, the cops have deemed it better to instead hand out sweets/toffees and advise the drivers to wear a helmet. Not yet clear how far such an approach will be effecitve, but a fresh approach has been adopted under instructions from the SP of Churachandpur police, Amrita Sinha, but already a significant point has been delivered and that is the police are willing to help the citizens adhere to safety norms and this is something which should not go missing in the consciousness of the people.
Wearing helmet is about the safety of the people. It is not going to earn anyone any brownie points. Yet why do people here hesitate or are unwilling to wear the safety gear, which has been prescribed by the State Government ? One reason could be the unwillingness of the people to adhere to rules and regulations on the roads and this is something seen everyday on the busy roads of Imphal and elsewhere. At the core of the helmet drive at Churachandpur, is the call to adhere to rules and regulations on the roads. That people are just not willing to listen to good reasoning can be seen in the chaos on the roads everyday. And when one talks about helmets for two wheeler drivers, it is not uncommon for motorists to regularly go past the zebra crossing when signalled to stop at any traffic crossing Making things more comical is the fact that often it is the men in uniform who violate this regulation. Not uncommon to see three men in khakis zooming on the roads of Imphal on a fancy two wheeler and stopping way past the zebra crossing when signalled to stop. Ironic it is but there is still the pressing need to deploy traffic cops and regulate the traffic at every traffic crossing equipped with the signals. So when the green signal comes, it is time for the traffic cop to give the go ahead signal and when red comes it is the traffic cop who has to blow his whistle and signal the oncoming traffic to stop. A pathetic statement on the mentality of the people.