[Omkar]

At some point in our lives, we have blamed the system for horrible road conditions, lack of structure, bad road sense among drivers and whatnot when driving. And while we all try and follow safe driving practices and avoid fines, we’re not perfect. The system does get you when you slip. I know this is going to be an embarrassing journey, but let’s share some of the traffic violations that we have been fined for. I would request members not to evaluate the traffic violations of other members. This is just so that we can learn from our as well as others' mistakes and not judge people. Here are some of the times when I have been caught by the traffic cops.

Speeding:

I’ve never had a ticket for speeding, but there has been one incident I would like to narrate. While driving from Noida to Agra on the Yamuna expressway, there came a point where the endless straight roads finally got to me. So, I thought I’d go faster as I couldn’t see any cameras around and right at that moment, I saw an interceptor on the side of the road. I was 15-20 km/h above the limit and I knew that I was going to get a ticket and rightly so. When I reached the end toll, the attendant told me that the car was caught speeding and that I should park on the side. I told him that I was driving on the Yamuna expressway for the first time (which was true) and didn’t realize that I was above the limit (which wasn’t true). He looked behind where the speeding cars were being fined by cops and the line was long. Since the cops were already occupied, the attendant asked me to carry on. While I didn’t get fined, since then, I haven’t gotten into trouble for excessive speeding. I have made sure that I stay within the speed limit.



Jumping a yellow light:

This was in my early college days when I had just gotten my bike. While there’s nothing much to it, the traffic light was green and when it turned yellow, instead of slowing down, I decided to cross it. A traffic cop was standing right after the signal, and he was very happy to see me. When I told him I didn’t have any cash to pay the fine, his smile got wider and he took out a card machine. What a day.



I’ve also been fined for an illegal U-Turn (poor signage), parking in a 'No Parking' area and expired PUC. Do share some of the traffic violations that you have been fined for. Once again, the aim is to learn from others' mistakes and not judge.

[Jeroen]

I’m not quite sure but over the years I have raked up probably at least 1.5 million kilometers if not more on all continents.

I have had the odd speeding fine and some parking fines.

I have also received a fine for driving without a driver license. I was 18 and already having driving lessons. But my father took me to a desolate industrial estate for some practice. It was desolate except for the cop car who pulled us over! My dad got done for instructing without a license and I got done for not having a driving license!

I have had a few close calls with the law, but managed not to get a ticket. Both my Alfa Spider and my Mercedes W123 have illegal registration plates. You can read them, they will show up on the speed cameras, but technically they are the wrong shape and or colour. But I like them.

I have had the odd cop making comments about them. I always have to promise to put the original plates back on when I reach home. I always promise, but of course the cop and I know it ain’t going to happen! ��

I also got pulled over in our village near The Hague once. In all those years I lived there, never ever did I see a cop. That day I took the shocks of my W123 in front of our house. I could not finish the job, so I had to drive it, without shocks to its garage. About a kilometer from our house. Lots of speed bumps and the cops behind me noticed the W123 bumping up and down, so they pulled me over.

They told me they thought there was something wrong with my shocks! I told them, what shocks, this car doesn’t have any. By the way what are you doing in our village. First cop car I have seen in 15 years? Luckily, they were ok with my explanation!

Just spend a long weekend in Belgium and I am pretty sure I will be receiving a speeding ticket. I thundered along in the Jaguar and I saw the camera flash in my rear view mirror!

Jeroen

[asingh1977]

I sold my i20 some months ago. There were like 5 challans: "violation of road marking". Rs 1500 / offense. Not sure, what this even means.

[saikishor]

This happened very recently and I wasn't aware of speedcams to be working on that road. It was an empty road and I was driving normally unaware of the speed limit. Must say this was a very NFSMW2005 like picture to me, especially the color grading.

Apart from this, on two wheeler, I was fined thrice for a pillion not having a helmet(godbless my friends).

[anandhsub]

Have had no traffic violation fines (touchwood) in about 100k kms of driving but have been fined twice while riding. Once for parking on the footpath and other for jumping a signal.

However I have once paid a fine for not having the right emission certificate. Since mine was a BSIV vehicle thought the certificate was issued for 1 year, instead turned out for diesel it was only for 6 months.

[Beemer1077]

I have never had any traffic violations, be it in United States or in India on driving a car/bike. But the time I got into trouble on across both nations was something unusual - riding a bicycle.

Here in Ohio, as I was not aware, I was pulled over by a patrolling officer as I was riding on the tarmac instead of the sidewalk. However, since it was my first time, he only gave me a polite verbal warning, and asked me to ride on sidewalks, stating that it is safe and that just tell pedestrians "behind you" so they can move aside.

In Pune, MH, as a teenager, I was riding on Lakdi bridge, which has no 2-wheelers sign, which applied to bicycles as well. At the other end, a uniformed cop asked me to stop at the side and said that he will have to deflate my tires as a violation. However I showed my student ID and requested leniency: he warned me not to ride again. I found it way absurd and disgusted that they treat bicycles like this.

On the same lines, in Mumbai, as an adult and while visiting from America, I took my uncle's bicycle for a joyride with helmet, and on one bridge, a traffic constable stopped me. He asked me for my details, and license, and stated that I am not supposed to ride on the bridge(it was not Bandra Worli Sea Link, but some flyover). He penalized me Rs. 200, but I refused to pay, stating that there were no signs about bicycles even if 2-wheelers were not allowed. An argument ensued and the public pressure mounted on him. Subsequently, his senior officer came and said that as per rules I committed an offense, but I replied that it only applied to Motor Vehicles and not bicycles, even showed him after searching on google. There again, the officers released me without taking any penalties.

[DevendraG]

Confession Time on Sunday:

Started driving around 2000.

I’ve been guilty of:
1: Speeding (Pune Mumbai Expressway, Pune Goa Highway) - Legally Paid
2: Parking Tickets - Legally Paid most of them
3: Lane cutting - Pune does that to you - No fines paid (Did pay for it in Mumbai though)
4: License impounded for late night chat with then girlfriend on the side lane - had to abscond since I couldn’t afford my father knowing about it - got another license made - old memories
5: Learnt driving without a license ofcourse - luckily didn’t get caught then

Can’t recall much apart the above offences. Mostly an enthusiast on road with respect for others on the road and the law.

[Small Bot]

I have been fined four times so far:

• I was driving my Activa post a major accident and repair and completely forgot that the front number plate had been shattered and not replaced. Got caught at Marathahalli in Bangalore in 2016. The policeman was very chill, took a 100₹ note (which probably went directly to his pocket) and let me go.
• I stepped a little over the stop line near the Olympia Tech Park signal in Chennai in 2023 to enable a bike rider to cross me from behind and a convenient cop sneakily took a photo of my Brezza a foot over the line. 500₹ fine on the portal and I felt like a dunce.
• I did more than 100 kmph on East Coast Road earlier this year and a speed camera caught me doing 109 kmph. 1000₹ fine on the portal after almost three months. While I probably sped up unconsciously because the road was absolutely empty and the Brezza felt buttery smooth, no real excuses there.
• My Grand Vitara was parked on Anna Salai behind a police car near Nehru Park metro station. And promptly for fined 500₹.

All the fines have been totally deserved, I guess. Mostly because of stupidity or carelessness.

[rpunwani]

I have been fined for speeding, parking in a No Parking Zone and once for jumping a signal.

The craziest saga was for speeding. I was returning from my office in Navi Mumbai to home in Colaba, Mumbai on the Eastern Freeway. I always have used the cruise control on each of our cars at 80 km/hr which is the speed limit. At the Mahul junction, there was a RTO Van with a speed gun. As far as I remember, I had the cruise control on.

A few days later I received an SMS from VAAHAN stating that there is a speeding fine and it provided me with a link to pay the fine. I did click on the link and it showed me a fine of Rs. 2000/-. I dismissed this as some online scam and life went on. Three months later, I got another SMS from VAAHAN stating that my case has been transferred to the court. Now I woke up and asked my office staff to check what has happened. One of my staff knew one RTO Officer and he told my office staff that there is a speeding fine and gave him a printout with details. I told my office staff to go and pay the fine - the RTO officer stated that the driver/owner of the car has to go personally and pay the fine. I found out that the traffic court is in Mazagon.

The next Saturday, I went to Mazagon - only to find that the building was demolished and part constructed. The people there told me to go to Sewree Court. On enquiring there, I was directed to the Wadala RTO.

On enquiring at the counter, the person said that there is indeed a fine and asked for my license. On handing the license to him, he said "Your license is suspended for 3 months, come after 3 months and collect your license"

Crazy thoughts went on in my head - my daughter was getting married in 6 weeks, I drive to work, etc. My whole world came crashing down

After a lot of pleading and waiting for over two hours, he asked me to pay the Rs. 2000/- fine online, which I promptly did. The he took me aside and asked me for a hefty fee, which I promptly paid. Got my license and bolted out of the Wadala RTO/

[chiekennugget]

Guys, I have a theory. What if moderator Omkar is a police personnel in disguise? What if he is using this post as a way to find out information about us?



What an amazing plan though.

(joke/satire)

[deecee]

Interesting thread!

I am usually a law-abiding, rule following driver, and besides driving in India, I've also done some solo-driving in Australia, Thailand and the US without any violations. The ones that I've been fined for are for very funny reasons, mostly due to no regulations in place or the rules weren't clear enough.

1. Pollution under control certificate(PUCC) not produced on demand - Rs. 250.
I was stopped when we were driving from Bangalore to Wayanad at the first RTO check post in Kerala. I forgot to carry the PUC print out given by the service center and placed in an envelope which was kept at home along with the service invoice. While the PUC database online shows that the PUC is valid on his device, the cop insisted that I show the certificate, and since I was in conveniently in a no-network zone, I wasn't able to show an online proof as well. I was told to pay Rs. 250 for this, instead of Rs. 1000 which is the price if I didn't have a valid certificate. Due to a language barrier I didn't want to ask any further questions, paid the fine and moved on.

2. Parking in a no-parking zone - Rs. 1000
This happened near the Hennur Bus Depot in Bangalore. I was visiting a client's office, and there were about 4 cars parked outside the office on the street, which people from the office regularly do. There's absolutely zero mention of No-parking over here and the road is super wide at this section that doesn't not block any traffic, besides that, one would usually find Bangalore's BMTC buses being parked there for long periods, this being the depot is about 400 metres away from this spot.
A cop just walks by and fines all the cars parked over there. I realized this only a month later when I was casually checking for fines on my car. Same thing happened to all others from the office as well. I went one step ahead and wrote to Bangalore Traffic Police to clarify this and hopefully cancel the fine, and while they were prompt in responding, I was just redirected to the nearest police station, and form there to the nearest police at the traffic signal. The person who fined wasn't available at that moment and I wasn't getting a proper response. I ended up paying the fine and closing it.

3. Fail to use safety belts - Rs. 500
My co-passenger wasn't wearing seatbelts in the car while seated in the front seat and the ITMS camera flagged this.

4. Having tints on the windshield - Rs. 400
I was stopped barely 800 metres from my home at a random traffic stop due to not wearing a mask during covid sometime in 2021. The traffic cop wasn't able to clearly see my mask since it was a black face mask and decided to stop me, once he saw that I was actually wearing a mask, he then proceeded to check if I have valid insurance, carrying an RC etc. Since he couldn't find any issues he decided to check my windows and there it was, a 3M CR70 window tint. I was told to pay something to not get it removed. I know it's partly my fault for having the tints, however, the tints weren't dark at all, one could clearly see inside the car. Also, this was the only time I was stopped in 7 years for the tints in that car. This car has now been sold.

5. Turning left at a no free left - Rs. 200
This happened in Mumbai in the Gateway of India area. There were no signs that a free left was prohibited, also it was safe to turn left as there was no traffic in that direction. We were driving a self-drive rental car and was stopped by traffic police. He saw that there were a lot of fines racked up by the car in the past and asked us to pay for it or get the car seized. My aunt spoke to them in Marathi and he was super sweet, asked us for something, and let us go!

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by chiekennugget

What if moderator Omkar is a police personnel in disguise?

And trying to meet his monthly quota

Jokes aside, I have been caught twice. Both the times the money went directly into their pockets.

1. When I was doing my engineering, had to go out to buy some components for a project. Borrowed a friend’s activa and got out with my roommate.

I was the one driving and just as I was telling my roommate to keep an eye on traffic cops, we spotted one a few meters ahead and a whistle blowing! It was a curvy road and police guy was standing at such a convenient location that he won’t be visible to unsuspecting riders.

Made my pocket light by 100/-, and an assurance that if any other traffic guy stops me that day, just tell them his name

2. Recently on a drive to Connaught Place in Delhi, where one has to follow traffic lights even for a left turn. The signal was green and I was among few other vehicles that were turning left.

Now, there was a DTC bus beside me who blocked my view of the traffic light. The traffic was slow moving and I didn’t realise when the light turned from green to amber to red while I was still making my move. Got stopped by the traffic police who was adamant on a challan of 5000/- and confiscating my license (only god knows what serious crime I committed!). Finally, after some negotiations, paid 1000/- to fill his pockets and left.

[Aditya]

I have been driving on public roads since 1994 and have clocked many lakh kilometres all over India and outside it. The number of offences I have been fined for is crazy. Probably the only rule I have not broken is entering a no entry.

Here's a list of some of the offences I remember that I have been fined for.

1. No parking
2. Overspeeding
3. Lane cutting
4. Expired PUC certificate (1st time I took the car out after the Covid lockdown)
5. Sunfilm
6. Taking wrong turns (due to poor signage)
8. Jumping red lights (again due to badly placed signals)
9. Not stopping behind white line at a signal
10. Driving unregistered cars (red plate test cars)
11. Free flow exhaust
12. Talking on mobile phone

I've paid a lot of money in fines - lost count.

[Renaissance Man]

I have been caught multiple times for speeding and it’s mostly due to bad signage.

My first ever one was on the BLR airport road while coming from Hyderabad where the bike was at 80 and speed limit was 60. It was my first time and I did not really spot the speed limit sign was different for cars and bikes.

[G20Rider]

I was fined last year for speeding due to a confusion caused by day light savings time (happened in Netherlands).

It was the first day after DST has ended in October, which meant time has been rolled back by an hour. What was 7.30PM yesterday is 6.30PM today. In Netherlands most motorways has a limit of 100KMPH till 7PM and 130KMPH beyond 7PM until 6AM.

And on that day I went to work from office (usually do it once a week). In the evening there was a small drinks party where I participated (consumed well below legal limits for the sake of participation). After the party I drove back in an environment which was looking pretty dark, like 8PM night. it would have been 7.40PM if it was a day earlier but the clock was reset that day and now it’s only 6.40PM).
And I drove in the motorway at 130KMPH for almost 10 minutes straight.

And then I noticed something amiss. Everybody else seemed not at all in a hurry to get home. it’s literally only me on the left most fast lane overtaking everyone else. That’s not typical of Dutch. In a 130KMPH, everybody drives at 135KMPH (7% allowance). And then it dawned on me, it was not 7 yet, but few mins shy of it and I’ve been driving at 130 for well over 10mins. It also didn’t help that day I was driving a loaner Mini since my own car had gone for servicing and I was not very well acquainted with it’s interior and didn’t see where the clock was.

Slowed down immediately but I was pretty sure I was caught since it was right outside Amsterdam filled with speed cams. And as expected I got the fine a few weeks later in post which amounted to little less than €200 if I remember it correctly. An expensive mistake which I will never make again.