The police in Malappuram heralded the New Year by giving a surprise to motorists on Thursday evening.
All vehicles that moved through Malappuram town were greeted by the police in a special way. The police stopped the vehicles for a brief while and offered them toffees pinned to cards which provided valuable traffic information. The cards, while offering New Year greetings to the motorists, advised them to follow traffic discipline and to keep accident deaths at bay.
“Wish you a very happy New Year,” said Malappuram sub-inspector Richard Varghese, offering the toffee-attached card to a tourist in a car. “Thank you, this is lovely. May God bless you,” reciprocated the tourist, who introduced himself as Trevor D’Souza from Mumbai.
With the driver’s help, Mr. D’Souza read the contents printed in Malayalam in the card. When the card mentioned the number of accidents and casualties that took place in the district in the past year in one column, it provided certain tips for the New Year in another column.
As many as 359 people had lost their lives on the roads of Malappuram in 2015. As many as 3,267 people had suffered injuries in 2,856 accidents in the district. More than 60 per cent of the accidents were caused by two-wheelers.
The police advised the motorists not to drive after drinking alcohol and without wearing helmet and seat-belt. They also advised the people in a sweet way to avoid using mobile while driving and to inculcate a new traffic culture of law obedience.
“I wish our cops behave like this every day,” said Mohammed Kutty, a shop owner here.
Mr. Varghese and team smiled in return.
