Mumbai: Superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who inaugurated the Road Safety Week at NCPA on Monday, has said that he would lend his face and voice to the traffic police and state transport in their effort to ensure that motorists adhere to traffic norms, especially if they have children travelling with them.
Speaking at the event, Mr Bachchan said, “I have promoted noodles and paint in many advertisements. I am more than happy to do something for the city by promoting better traffic habits through my face and voice.” He added, “I have seen that parents either make their children sit in the front seat of the car or place them precariously on motorbikes. If an accident does occur, there are sadly very high chances that the child would be severely injured, and we need to bring in sensitivity about this.”
The actor also talked about incidents when bikers often stop mid-traffic to take a selfie with him, when the actor is out driving. He said, “I have often told the public that I don’t mind taking the picture, but it’s the fact that they stop traffic and refuse to budge until I agree to take the selfie that needs to stopped.”
At the same time, the traffic police is considering either permanently or temporarily suspending the licences of those who break traffic rules, depending on the degree of the rule broken. Joint commissioner of police (traffic) Milind Bharambe said that this would be done employing an increased role of technology, such as CCTV cameras and via e-challans being issued. Mr Bharambe said, “We have asked the transport department to suspend the driving licences of repeat offenders, and hope to use technology to do so.”
