’Watch and Go’: Google Maps in Bengaluru now tells people where traffic cops are, netizens in splits

Traffic Police is often dreaded by the violators in almost all over India. But in Bengaluru, these cops are now faced with a unique challenge to keep the violators in check. And surprisingly it comes from Google Maps. However, the tech giant may not be aware of it yet.

In Bengaluru, known as the Silicon Valley of India for its tech prowess, anonymous people have marked the areas where cops usually stop traffic violators, on Google maps. This has been done to alert these violators.

Several people in the city noticed this in their mobile phones. One of them took to social media platform X and shared a screenshot of a location tag in the viral post saying, "Police irthare, Nodkond hogi." In English, this roughly translates to, "Police will be there, watch and go".

Since then, several people have reacted to the post and shared similar screenshots. There are over 10 such location tags across the city. If any violator travels on those routes, they would be able to see that the traffic police is waiting for them. This would potentially save them from a challan or fine.

An X user shared the screenshot and said, "Just type "Police irt" on Google Maps and thank me later." Some users have also called this the "early disaster warning systems developed by citizens".

Some landmarks also have funny tags. One of them says, "Helmet hakond banni, police irthare". It translates to "Please wear your helmet, police will be here".

A user took example of New York and said that this similar system was once used by Uber drivers there.

"Haha, I remember seeing an app on Uber drivers’ phones in NYC that alerted them about cop car locations. This is local jugaad," they said.

The Bengaluru traffic police and Google have not yet responded to this development.