Half-hour counselling if you speed on Mumbai-Pune Expressway

MUMBAI: Fines are passe. Impatient drivers who are now stopped for speeding on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway will have RTO staff wearing them down with courtesy, reports Somit Sen. To start with, they will be escorted to an AC room.
Once they are seated, a 30-minute counselling session will be laid on. And finally to soothe their frazzled nerves, a soft drink will be served at the right temperature. The idea apparently is to make traffic offenders gently realise that had they not flouted rules, they could have reached their destination sooner and been spared of such unsolicited hospitality.
State transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar announced this 'novel initiative' to deal with violators. The counselling on traffic rules before offenders can proceed with their journey is expected to serve as a deterrent.
Eway offenders will have to read out pledge, sign it online
Annoucing the new deterrent method of a 30-minute counselling session instead of fines for speeding on the Mumbai-Pune expressway, state transport commissioner Vivek Bhimanwar said on Tuesday, "In the next few days, we will have our RTO personnel with speed guns trained at those violating speed limits on the eway. The vehicle registration numbers of the speedsters will be relayed to the next toll post where we will ensure that they spend at least half an hour for counselling and replying to a few questions on traffic rules and road safety."
He also said that the transport department had created two counselling centres - one each at Khalapur and Talegaon toll posts. These are make-shift containers which have been redesigned as a huge AC hall with proper seating arrangement, speakers, TV and computer/laptops.
Those caught overspeeding will be first "escorted with dignity" to the counselling centre, he said. "We will not create any impression that we are dealing with them sternly. We will simply request the offender to type his name, mobile number and driving licence number on a laptop which will then show him a 20-minute audio-visual documentary on crashes and road safety," he said. Offenders will also be offered water and soft drinks during counselling.
After watching the film on road safety, the offender will be asked six to seven questions on traffic rules to test his knowledge. After this, he will have to read out a pledge and sign it online, and a copy of the same will be printed for him at the counselling centre.
Bhimanwar said there could be exceptions, such as somebody wanting to catch a flight, or senior citizens who are unable to wait or those travelling with infants. The RTO has already begun its drive from December 1. In the past couple of days, RTO has used interceptor vehicles to crack down on heavy goods vehicles who often change lanes and drive on the right-most lane. "Instead of issuing challans for fines, we are using an announcement system to warn them. The drivers are happy that we are not imposing fines, but just warning them. This has worked towards changing their behaviour and these drivers now avoid flouting rules," the transport commissioner added.