When you drive on a public road, you are bound by certain rules and regulations, and you have to follow them to drive legally. The Motor Vehicle Act of India provides such rules and regulations. If you are caught not following them, then a traffic police officer, who has been given the authority under the law, can fine you for the violation, and you can even invite a jail term in certain cases. But here is the thing, in our country, the rules are so lax that you can save yourself from traffic violations by just bribing the traffic police officer. This is so common that we often find such news in our newspapers. But for the betterment of society, this lax attitude needs to be stopped. Here are some reasons why you should not bribe a traffic police officer after a violation-
Helps break the circle of bribing culture
We know that the problem of bribing in our country is very rampant, and it is eating our country like a termite. India is right now the 86th most corrupt nation in the world. Corruption is like an impedance to our progress and prosperity and we as citizens, have an equal part to play in that. Due to the corruption, most of us do not follow the traffic rules and as a result, we get to see road accidents and fatalities daily. Most of the truckers on Indian roads have to pay huge bribes annually to be in the business, taking away their already low income. We must understand that the rules and regulations are for our benefit and by ignoring them, we are putting our own lives at risk on the road. If we stop bribing, then we can break this bribing culture and make our nation more progressive.
Be a vigilant citizen
In most cases, the bribing that happens between the commuter and the traffic police officer is mostly an extortion tactic that is used by the officer. Since we are not aware of our rights and duties, the traffic police officer uses their power to harass the road users. They take money from them in the form of a bribe to save them from the tentacles of law. The question of why you should not bribe a traffic police officer after a violation can be a good excuse to educate ourselves better about our rights and duties. It will help us know when we have broken a traffic rule and when the traffic officer is using its powers to extort money. As we will grow more vigilant, the traffic authority will work more diligently and the traffic rules will be followed more strictly.
To make our roads safer
Bribing and road safety are closely related to each other. Bribing is a major reason why we do not have properly trained drivers on the road and a high rate of road accidents, due to less regard to road rules. We may think that we can get ourselves away without following the road rules, but inadvertently, we are becoming a part of this dangerous cycle. The road accident that happens daily, can happen to you too because someone was lax about the road rules due to bribing. So to make our roads safer, we must stop this circle of bribing and be responsible citizens of the country.
Conclusion
So to sum up, the question of why you should not bribe a traffic police officer after a violation is a really important one, and we should not ignore it. We may think that we have avoided the law by being smart and giving bribes. But we do not realize that we are becoming a part of this dangerous circle and one day, god forbid, we might get ourselves involved in a fatal road accident and receive an irrecoverable loss. So to prevent road accidents and make our nation more practical, we must put a stop to bribing.
