Mannequins dressed up as traffic officers — complete with hats, white shirts and fluorescent vests with police insignia — are being placed at major intersections in the hope they will prompt drivers to observe the rules.

Some even wear sunglasses and face masks.

With eight million cars plying the notoriously busy roads in a tech hub renowned for its traffic snarls, police say they don’t have enough flesh and blood officers to man all the junctions.

“The idea is not to scare anybody, the idea is to increase the compliance,” city police commissioner Bhaskar Rao told AFP.