When Chandan Kumar, a delivery agent in Delhi, was intercepted by the police on Sri Aurobindo Marg for riding his motorcycle without a helmet, he expected to be let off after paying a challan. Instead, he was made to sit through an impromptu session on road safety along with 15 to 20 other violators before being permitted to resume his journey. The exercise was part of ‘Traffic Pathshala’, a month-long awareness campaign being conducted by Delhi Traffic Police from July 1 to 31.
Under the initiative, traffic personnel are holding 15-minute counselling sessions at selected hotspots using videos, charts, and interactive discussions to explain the consequences of traffic violations and the importance of adhering to road safety norms.
Different districts are organising the sessions on different days during the campaign period.
‘Behavioural change’
“The idea is to encourage a change in behaviour rather than relying solely on monetary penalties,” said Sandeep Goyal, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), South.
At the session attended by Mr. Chandan, Traffic Inspector Madhurendra Kumar urged participants to be mindful of vulnerable road users, including pedestrians, senior citizens, children, and animals. “On roads, traffic is mixed and these groups are comparatively less capable of protecting themselves in case of a crash. Even collisions at low speed can cause serious injury,” he told the group.
As a road safety video was screened from a police van, an official from the Traffic Training Park at Baba Kharak Singh Marg reminded participants that safe driving was a shared responsibility. “While on roads we are concerned about our own destination and travel, we need to be aware of those around us as well,” the official said.
Among those present at the session was Gaurav, a student who was stopped for jumping a red light. “I was in a hurry as my mother was not well,” he said, adding that he was aware he had violated the rule. Apart from being issued a challan, he was required to attend the session on road safety.
Traffic police personnel acknowledged that the additional delay was not welcomed by everyone. “It is understandable that many people do not want to delay their journey and stay back for a class, but lack of awareness is not the only reason why people break rules,” an officer said.
According to the officer, most violators are aware that they are breaking the law. “Many people have emergencies but several others also break rules for sheer thrill. As enforcers, we can only flag this behaviour. Real change comes when people cooperate,” the officer said.
Mr. Madhurendra said sustained enforcement coupled with public cooperation could lead to improvements in road safety. “When the public cooperates, we are able to bring down congestion, fatalities, accidents and challans. In my area, we have been able to reduce accidents from an average of 12 to eight in the past eight months. This has happened only with interventions made by the traffic police personnel and coordination of citizens,” he said.
The sessions cover common violations such as jumping red lights, riding without helmets, overspeeding, using mobile phones while driving and not wearing seat belts, Mr. Goyal said. Through videos, discussions and examples of road crashes, violators are told that a moment of negligence can have life-altering consequences.
Badges awarded
As of July 13, Delhi Traffic Police has conducted 183 intersection drives, organised 226 sessions on road safety, and interacted with more than 5,600 violators.
During the same period, it detected 696 cases of wrong-side driving, 246 instances of red-light jumping, and 319 cases of triple riding. Around 1,270 motorists were issued challans for riding without helmets.
In a bid to encourage compliance, the traffic police have awarded badges to over 330 motorists for adhering to traffic rules.
Published – July 16, 2026 02:04 am IST
