How asking for a traffic challan might benefit you.

You know those last five seconds of a green light? The ones where the guy in front of you suddenly has to stop for a bit but just enough so that you can’t escape? Yeah, that one.

Yesterday when returning from the office I faced a similar situation but I had already crossed the white line and I could either move forward or stop in the middle of the road. I chose the former and the traffic policeman chose me. He motioned me to the side and asked for my license. I handed it over. Obviously, since this was an Indian Traffic policeman I was mentally prepared to haggle over the fine paid so as he asked me to get out of the car, I started talking of how I was in a hurry and how I was sorry and how I would never do it again.

He listened to me and then asked me to pay the fine. I asked him how much and he said 3000 rupees. This caught me by surprise because red light violations, even minor ones like mine should not have that much of a fine. I asked him to show me the fine/challan book and he showed me an image from his phone’s gallery. It said 3000 for Dangerous Driving (Wrong side driving and Overtaking in no overtake zone). It all made sense to me now. This was a scare tactic to get some bribes from citizens who were either too scared or in a hurry. Lucky for me, I had all the time in the world. So I agreed to the fine and asked him to write me a challan. He was taken aback and told me to meet the saheb. I met his superior who asked me the same standard questions - Where do you live? What do you do? Where are you coming from? You sure you want to pay the 3000 rupee Challan? I answered all his questions and said yes to the challan.

He then took out his phone, opened some government app and clicked a photo of my car. He then verified my registration details, tapped repeatedly on his phone and hurridly asked me to leave. I was confused. I asked him about the challan and he said that he had already sent it to my address. I was still confused. I asked him about the 3000 rupees and he said that I could pay it online. And so, the honest citizen left in his car. The honest citizen also got an SMS a few minutes later. It was for a 500 rupee red light violation.

So people, if you ever get caught by a traffic policeman and he asks you to pay whatever amount, ask for a challan if you think that amount is not what you should actually be paying.