Smiley campaign by Gurugram police spreads awareness on traffic rules

Gurugram: Traffic police personnel and volunteers from a road safety organization are now organising 'smiley campaign' to spread awareness about traffic rules and the steep penalties under the amended Motor Vehicle (MV) Act. As a part of the campaign, the volunteers and traffic police personnel gave smiling emojis to commuters, who were following traffic rules. They were told that "they should feel happy because they are following traffic rules.

Meanwhile, the offenders were handed a sad emoji and told about the importance of road safety and the fines they may have to pay if they were caught flouting norms again.

Himanshu Garg, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) said, "We appeal to the public to follow traffic rules. The traffic police appreciate the people who follow road safety rules themselves and not because of the fear of the law." Traffic police conducted a three-day awareness and educational campaign in several schools, colleges, and corporate companies across the city.

All SHOs, DSPs, district SPs, Commissioners of Police and Range ADGPs/IGPs across the state were directed to focus on spreading awareness about increased penalties and new offenses under the state-wide campaign.

The Gurugram police have been proactive in levying fines on the traffic offenders ever since the new Motor vehicles Act has come into force from September 1. On Day one, most of the fines that were levied were on the offenders who were not wearing the seat belts and helmets. One of the major challenges however being faced by the law enforcement officials is the lack of upgradation of the software that is resulting in the delay in the process of levy of fines.

Ever since the new Motor vehicles Act has come into force, more than 2000 vehicles have been challaned resulting in more than Rs 12 lakh in just three days. If incidents of the Auto driver being levied a fine of Rs 32,500 and two scooty driver being Rs 23,000 and 24,000 was not enough, On Wednesday a trolley driver in Gurugram was fined Rs 59,000. These new fines are a result of amendments made to the 1988 Motor Vehicles Act. The amendments were cleared by Parliament earlier this year and significantly increased fines imposed for flouting traffic rules.