In India, ask any motorist what is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of traffic rules and traffic police and the obvious answer is bribery! Not that the malpractice is not rampant in any other 'official work' but in the case of traffic rules it is so common that no one even raises an eyebrow anymore.
The cops standing the whole day at the lights don't get a fat paycheck at the end of the month and so resort to the easiest way of a little 'extra money'. For the violators it is a much easier way out - 100 bucks to the cop versus a legal fine of 300-500 bucks; few have the courage to do the right thing.
Of course, on top of this, let's be practical - I have seen (and I'm sure many others have too) two wheelers zoom off 5-6 secs before the light turns green even with a cop at the signal!
Why can't the penalty system for small traffic violations be 'incentive based'? What if, the cops were legally allowed to keep the entire amount of fine to themselves as an incentive? What I'm saying is this - if the cop catches a violator, he fines him the legally set amount, gives a receipt and that penalty is marked in the log under his name. At the end of the month along with his salary he gets his total incentive. In this scheme, the violator cannot bribe his way out by paying a smaller amount because the cop no longer has a motive to accept the bribe in the first place! This scheme can work only if the entire penalty amount is set as the 'incentive' - if, say for example, only half the amount is set as incentive (to go directly to the cop) and half goes to the department (where all the fines go in the current method of penalty) then the whole system fails again - the violator can offer to pay, for example, 0.75 of the set legal fine directly to the cop and the cop would also be tempted to accept it because now he would get 0.75 of the set fine instead of 0.50. Win-win for both; big time loss for the system!
Of course, this can only be implemented for minor traffic violations were generally the officer in charge has the final say, ie there is nothing to challenge his decision; if he says you jumped the signal, you jumped the signal. Then again, isn't it the case even now? In essence, implementing an 'incentive based penalty' is not going to cause any misuse of power, at least not any different than in the existing system! And needless to say, such class of violations is what forms the majority of traffic violations in cities, big and small.
Finally, will the system work? I think if people realise that there's no getting around paying the heafty fine, they won't dare to violate the rules any more. And yes, the cops would love it - they will be on their toes more than ever to catch violators - because it pays to do their job more effectively, literally!
Honestly, I'm not sure why this has not been propsed before and if it has been then what problems / pitholes are involved.
3 comments:
MK, through email:
Hard to disagree with you, except for friction it will probably generate between cops at the same traffic signal. If there are multiple cops, which one gets paid for catching you? What of the wardens who are so poorly paid that they have to shell out money for their own uniforms? They certainly don't get to fine people. In effect, if there are two constables and two wardens at a signal, the wardens have to make do with their meagre pay, while the constables get the incentives.
-MK
NSM, through email:
The scheme that you are proposing hinges on both people and police not mending their ways and letting the wrong things run as before. A very convenient way for people to shirk all
responsibility while driving and expecting the police to do *all* the regulation for madder
traffic -- ``Because now we are paying them more na!'' -- more convenient for rich Salman-types in SUV's. I find the idea fairly outrageous.
The aim of the traffic regulation system is not to make profit from traffic rule violations. Such an incentive scheme will have no effect. It could even be counter-productive. A very good example is the bridge at Deccan where two-wheelers are not allowed. The sign (and the cops) are not at the mouth of the bridge but at the end.
This serves the purpose of collecting more money as fines, but does not prevent two-wheelers from using the bridge.
My point is, when a public service is made a `venture for profit' then the public servants shall be corrupted, people will suffer and the service shall be dead for all practical purposes. This is
evident today in all our public services, education, health-care etc.
I think we need to ask very basic questions about this problem.
Why do traffic cops take these small bribes? Because they are not paid well is the standard answer.
If so much money is generated in the nation, GDP is growing at such-and-such rate and people like me can be paid lakhs per year, it is worth asking why the traffic cops are not compensated according to the difficulty and risks involved in their job ? (It is not just cops, any bottom level employees of the system.) The (legal!) salaries and LAD funds of MLA's and MP's are also increasing. It is therefore imperative that we pay low level public servants enough to have a good life. That would be the right kind of incentive.
Equally at fault here are people who break traffic rules. We should ask, why do people break
traffic rules ? Is losing even 100 rupees (as bribe money) acceptable to most people ? It may
be `better' than losing 500 as fine, but ultimately one is losing money. No one wants to lose
money. I think it is safe to make this particular generalisation. Then why are our people
motivated to commit these offenses?
Maybe we do not even think that these are offenses. How many licensed
drivers in the street today got their licenses *by the book* ? How many have licenses in the
first place ? How many people actually know traffic rules ?(this could go all the way to ``How many people know Ka-Kha-Ga/A-B-C'' ). Why is our society so unruly in general ?
The answers to these questions reach deep into the system. This whole issue is just a symptom
of a larger disease. Making up these schemes is like a medicine providing symptomatic relief.
It does not cure anything. In the long term it will make matters worse.
Hey,
This thing exists already to some extent. One thing I know of is the penalty for drinking and driving in Mumbai. It is impossible to get away with bribing. The police get some percentage of the fines and also I think some appreciation/bonus on the number of people they catch.
I am not sure if Pune / other cities do this too.
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