The roads might be jammed enough to infuriate even the most zen among us, but drivers in Yangon should probably calm down: traffic cops have tasers now.
About 650 have already been handed out in Yangon, Irrawaddy and Taninthayi regions as well as in Mon and Kayin states, according to a report in state-run newspaper the Global New Light of Myanmar.
The move was apparently made following an ‘increase in the number of traffic rule violators behaving aggressively towards police’.
Tasers are handheld weapons that cause temporary incapacitation through electric shocks. The guns are designed to be nonlethal but their use has been criticized in the United States after victims died.
Police in Myanmar don’t sound too concerned about that.
One official emphasized that police are entitled to use tasers to protect themselves under Section 100 of the criminal code.
“According to the law, a attacker may be stopped using this equipment, even if it leads to the attacker’s death.”
You’ve been warned.
Photo / Global New Light of Myanmar
