Mumbai is a maddening city. A city where everyone is in a tearing hurry. No one has time to stop. This is a city which virtually never sleeps - in the sense that you will find some activity or the other happening at any point of time in a day or night.
This is also a city famous for its narrow roads which are dug up most of the time for either repairs of the road itself or of telephone connections or drainage etc. Also, the narrow roads are "full" of pot holes (esp. during and immediately after monsoons). The roads are usually congested with busses, trucks, cars, taxis, autorickshaws, hand carts, bullock carts, pedestrians, slums etc.
Imagine having the job of a traffic constable in the city. The traffic constable has virtually no cover / shelter and is exposed to all kinds of weather. He has to virtually be on his feet for upto 10 hours a day and has to be inhaling the fumes from exhausts of all kinds of vehicles. He is exposed to noise pollution created by angry and impatient drivers. In Mumbai (like most other Indian cities) people use the horn to steer their vehicles !!
Despite all this, our traffic cops are doing a wonderful job. They ensure that all violations (like breaking of traffic signals, cutting lanes, drunken driving, talking on cell phones while driving, rash driving etc.) are curbed and offenders are brought to book. It is because of such diligent work done by our traffic cops that Mumbai can boast to have one of the highest safety records on the roads. Compare this to Delhi and you will know what I am talking about..
It is true that some of the cops do take a bribe for letting offenders off without charging an official fine. However, this itself is a detterrent as no one likes to "pay" for their crimes.. We must also not forget that the cops are very poorly paid and live & work in almost inhuman conditions. Also, even cops who take bribes are pre-dominantly "honest" as they only catch offenders (even though the law permits them to book anyone and the benefit of doubt would go to the cops)..
In my 20 years of driving, I have been caught several times for traffic offences. Most of the time it was my mistake. Very few times was I caught for something I had not done. Also on such occassions, I must admit that the intention of the cop was never to "cheat" me and make money off me. Even though the cops today are "target" driven (the government is desperately trying to improve revenues, you see), they still ensure that they only catch offenders and let the others drive peacefully..
I pray and hope that this character of the cops doesn’t change. I also pray that the government does something with their pay scales to improve their lives.
I will be glad to hear of your experiences with Mumbai traffic cops :-)