[Rant] Bengaluru Traffic Police: Challan First, Safety Later

Here’s what happened to me recently: I was on Whitefield ITPL road, heading towards Hope Farm on my bike. The traffic was crawling, and just after Pattandur Agrahara metro station, there’s a small cut near Brigade Bhuwalka Icon that leads to ECC Road. I saw many people taking that cut, so I checked Google Maps and decided to take it too since maps were showing 35 mins to reach. The road on the other side was almost empty, so I ended up going around 10 meters on the wrong side. The moment I turned, two traffic police officers suddenly appeared from their hiding spot behind some parked cars and flagged me down. They stopped the guy in front of me, and me and some others but they drove off before stopping. Honestly, I'd realised my mistake as soon as I took that wrong cut, but it felt harmless at that time. Well, karma hit instantly and they caught me. This would have been my first traffic violation in over 10 years of driving. I politely asked the officer if he could give me a warning since it was a first-time mistake. He told me they catch people here daily for the same thing. So, I asked him, "If this is such a common problem, why don’t you just put up a signboard to warn people?" His reply? "Why do we need to put a board? You should know it’s wrong." I accepted my mistake and tried to reason with him that a simple signboard could prevent so many violations. But nope, he issued a ₹500 challan, and I moved on. While driving away, I couldn’t stop thinking about how the traffic police here operate. It’s not just Bengaluru.Even in Delhi they do the same thing. They hide somewhere and suddenly jump out to catch violators instead of preventing violations in the first place. In many other countries, they put up signboards on highways warning about speed cameras or specific rules. But here, the focus is on collecting fines or worse – other incentives. Road safety and rule enforcement feel like an afterthought.