Unruly traffic is so common on the roads of India that people take it as just another normal thing. Each year, there are several mishaps on the roads of Indian roads due to the people not adhering to the traffic laws and to top that the sheer number of vehicles on the roads of the country make driving or riding an experience needlessly troublesome. Therefore, in order to encourage better traffic habits and safe usage of roads, the traffic administration time and again comes up with several measures to make the roads safer. So far, the initiatives have only found limited success. However, in a novel move the Pune traffic police have come up with a rather innovative approach that focuses on rewarding the people displaying good traffic behaviour and adherence to the traffic laws.
The traffic police in city has started encouraging adherence to traffic laws by rewarding the traffic rule followers with coupons from online food delivery solutions like Swiggy and Zomato. The traffic police in Pune has also officially partnered with the companies for the same. This is the first time the traffic police in the country has started a rewards based system for traffic law followers while at the same time penalising the rule breakers. Perhaps the traffic police in Pune are banking on the positive reinforcement part of the initiative to encourage good traffic manners in the city.
Under the new initiative in the city, the police is looking out for people who are following the traffic laws and display good traffic behaviour and is then issuing coupons offering discount up to 50% percent to such people. This initiative has been started under the Aabhar Yojana, which initially started as a reward program for vehicle owners who keep their documents in order. When stopped on the roads for document checking, if the police find the documents of a vehicle in order, the police issue a 10-digit coupon code to the driver or rider. The code is sent to mobile of the owner and the discount can be availed via the code.
The cost involved in the coupon issuing is so far being covered by the partners and the police is acting as the enforcement arm of the scheme. It remains to be seen as to how effective the novel initiative by the city administration turns out to be. With over 10,000 coupons already being distributed in the city, the scheme is surely popular among the public of Pune.