Indian Habits Die Hard
Came across this board..which I am sure we have seen and already know but choose to ignore.
Came across this board..which I am sure we have seen and already know but choose to ignore.
The title is apt. I am telling a true story. An Indian in New York had a used tyre in his car dicky. In USA used tyres can not be thrown anywhere, they have to be deposited at designated places. The Indian went to the NY airport to receive a friend of his. He went into a very large paid parking zone and got space at a corner which had some bushes etc near to it. He took out thee used tyre and looked around and feeling safe threw the tyre into the bushes. After sometime when he was exiting the parking lot at the gate he got his parking bill which had an extra component of $60/-. When he protested he was told this was the fine for the tyre he threw out. The cameras had recorded it. He quietly paid and cursed the Americans because a new tyre cost only $25 at that time. Will he again litter but in India as there is no punishment we do it without caring for the environment etc.
Imposing heavy fines surely helps. If a helmet costs 2000 and fine is 100 people will pay it. But if fine is 1500 or 2000 every one will think twice about paying fine. Minimum fine for violating traffic riles should start from Rs 1000 and it should be collected strictly on the spot or paid into a bank account. Till such time the driving licence shall remain in custody of the police. Not only Indians but every where people follow law also because of heavy fines.
This happened with one of my friends, who was driving on the wrong side of the road..his DL was taken into custody and was fined around 1000/-. Next time onwards he was careful. :)
Exactly heavy fines with transparent collection mechanism will go a long way in people being forced to follow the law and then it becomes a habit. While on a official trip to Switzerland a person in the company where I went was caught for over speeding on a road that had a speed restriction. His Driving Licence was suspended for six months. When I told him in India he could have got away by paying a bribe everyone around me was surprised and one of them said in that case the suspension could go up to two years. No doubt they look very disciplined to us.
The practice of lifting the wrongly parked vehicles by crane to a remote place has worked effectively. This practice has been extended to several other cities in AP
Such practices should be carried out after providing enough parking space. This job here is given to contractors who lift generally two wheelers even when properly parked as they are paid on per vehicle basis. To some extent it helps, but friendly shopkeepers guide as to ehen the cranes are going to come.
@Mousumi9