A perfect 10 makes a terrific traffic cop

Jumped a traffic signal? That soiled Rs 50-note you plan to slyly slip into a constable’s palm will not get you off the hook. The Mumbai traffic police department is closely monitoring the ‘performance’ of constables to prevent corruption and drive home the importance of road discipline.

At the end of each workday, every constable has to show that he penalised at least 10 motorists. That alone will not keep constables on their toes. So, the department has also gone for peer evaluation. If a colleague overshoots the target of 10 motorists, then other less active constables are being told to justify why they failed to do so.

A non-performer is given a warning. If he fails to meet the target twice more, he stands the risk of being shunted out to another department, says Pratap Dighavkar, deputy commissioner of police (traffic).

The initiative was launched a couple of months ago and it has begun to show results. About 2 lakh more motorists were penalised till May this year than in the corresponding period last year (4.55 lakh).

“Any policeman found violating this process of evaluation will be dealt with strictly. The record of constables’ performance will be fed into a database,” says Dighavkar.

A traffic police officer says about 1,800 constables man 19 traffic chowkies in the city. The officer in-charge of every chowkie keeps tabs on each constable’s work. Constables who fail to meet the target have to justify their ‘poor’ performance to their officers at a meeting held every week.

India sees over 1.5 lakh fatal road mishaps each year, of which about 13,000 are reported in Maharashtra. It has been found time and again that motorists flouting traffic rules pose a danger to themselves and others.