Slap and Selective Memory
The new viral clip of a traffic policeman hitting a civilian has once again triggered public outrage. A short video. A solid slap. And the chronic storm followed. Seemingly, the act is unacceptable. Law enforcement guys aren’t meant to dole out justice with fists. Enquiry has been ordered. Accountability will be fixed. And probably, the cop in question may face consequences.
But if we pause for a moment and be fair-minded to ask as to what actually happened behind the viral moment? Because, sometimes, a slap is not just a slap. It becomes a symbol of everything we choose to forget.
Just a year before, we were shaken by a tragedy that still hangs heavy in our collective conscience. A group of young school children lost their lives in a horrific road accident. Their laughter, their innocence, their futures were snuffed out on the road, a place where discipline and safety are supposed to guard life.
That tragedy jolted everyone. The traffic police, often dismissed as ineffective, suddenly tightened the screws. Fines were imposed relentlessly. Bikes without helmets were seized. Speeding drivers were booked. Parents, too, were shaken enough to stop handing over two-wheelers to their underaged children. For a brief window of time, discipline returned to our streets.
We mourned. We resolved. And we changed. Or at least we thought we did. But human memory is notoriously short. Before we know it, and almost imperceptibly, the old habits crept back. Young men and women, hair blowing in the wind, raced through congested lanes with no helmets. Cars veered off uncontrollably. Horns blared aggressively. Traffic rules once again became more suggestion than law.
The culture of speed and defiance began to reclaim the streets, as if tragedy had never happened. Parents who once swore never to let their teenagers ride again started looking the other way. “Everyone is doing it” became the silent justification. Even those who had briefly stood behind enforcement, began to grumble: fines are ‘too harsh’, the police are ‘too strict’, and the rules are ‘too inconvenient’. It was only a matter of time before a confrontation like the viral slap was bound to happen.
The slap, then, is more than a cop losing his temper. It is the collision of two forces, discipline and defiance. On one side, we have an overstretched traffic policeman dealing daily with arrogance, aggression and open disregard for rules. On the other, there is a society that demands safety but resents enforcement.
Let us be clear. No amount of provocation justifies hostility by a man in uniform. But equally, no society can demand road safety while glorifying recklessness and rowdiness. The real danger is not in the slap caught on video, but in the unseen thousands of small “slaps” that our roads deliver every day. In the form of accidents, injuries and deaths. Each accident is a silent reminder that when rules are broken, lives are shattered.
We often treat traffic enforcement as a battle between citizens and police, as if they are enemies locked in perpetual conflict. But the truth is simpler. The road is shared space, and its safety depends on shared responsibility.
Traffic police cannot be everywhere, all the time. Parents cannot wash their hands off after giving a car or bike key to their teenager. Riders cannot pretend that wearing a helmet is a personal choice. Reckless driving cannot be a fad. Every act of negligence puts in danger not just the violator but everyone else on the road.
The slap video will fade in a few days, just like hashtags and clickbaits always do. But what must not fade is the memory of children lost to accidents, and the lessons we pledged we would never forget.
Road safety is not just about fines and challans. It’s actually about culture. Countries with safe roads did not achieve it merely through policing but by building a collective culture of respect for rules. From school education to parental responsibility, from media campaigns to community pressure, road discipline needs to be a part of daily life. Maybe, rather than just reacting with anger to a slap, we should direct our energy into building such a culture in our society. Imagine if the same zeal that feeds viral videos was directed towards ensuring every rider wears a helmet, every parent discourages underage driving, every driver respects a pedestrian crossing, and every person who rambles along the road knows their space.
All said and done, the worst slap is not the one we watched on media. The worst slap is the one that society delivers to itself every time it forgets a tragedy; every time it normalizes unruliness and offensive; and every time it treats road safety like someone else’s problem.
If we truly want safer roads, it won’t be through punishing one exhausted policeman or by seizing a few bikes. It will be achieved only when we, as people, stop giving excuses and start giving respect to rules, to life and to each other.
Till then, the roads we journey in life will keep teaching us harsh and hard lessons. And some of those lessons will be far, far more painful than a slap.
