Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi turns traffic cop, scolds bikers for not wearing helmet

In a bid to raise awareness on road safety, Kiran Bedi, Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, turned traffic cop during the National Road Safety Week. During the campaign on the busy Puducherry-Villupuram main road, Bedi stopped two-wheelers and asked them to wear helmets. A video on Twitter shows the LG stopping a man who was riding a motorcycle with a woman and two children. She warned him against it saying, “All four will fall”.

"Such a violation of traffic rules will not be tolerated," Bedi - the country's first female IPS office - added.

She also spotted an overcrowded auto-rickshaw and warned its driver, besides asking some passengers to get off. She also asked every police personnel to check motorists and ensure that traffic rules are followed. National Road Safety Week was celebrated in the country between February 4 and February 10.

“When there’s no culture of wearing a helmet in Puducherry and its CM keeps stalling enforcement & every 3rd day there’s a fatal accident, due to non-wearing of a helmet, where does one begin? Give up or take it in one’s own hands as well, alongside challenging enforcement agencies? (sic)” she tweeted.

Bedi, who was also an in charge of traffic in Delhi, became popular as ‘Crane Bedi’ after she towed prime minister Indira Gandhi’s car in 1982 as a part of her duty. In December last year, she drove through Puducherry in a private car ‘incognito’ and found lapses in traffic management.

Bedi, who has been at loggerheads with the Narayanasamy-led government on various issues since last two years had said, "my incognito checks will continue and senior police officers in charge of traffic management will be held accountable as they are bound by law to perform their duty and serve."

She had on December 18 pulled up police personnel after she spotted numerous lapses in the management of traffic during a drive she undertook in a private car 'incognito' in the town.