Chennai: Dangerous driving in New Delhi could dent the Indian capital’s hopes of showing itself off as a truly global city during next year’s Commonwealth Games, the country’s home minister said.

Speaking at a police function in the Indian capital on Tuesday, home minister P. Chidambaram said the police also had a responsibility to obey the rules of the road.

“We cannot expect mega city policing to function properly if people do not change their behaviour,” the PTI news agency quoted him as saying.

“We still find vehicles jumping red lights and police vehicles are not excluded, they too jump red lights.

“Then there are vehicles running without registration plates, some are crossing roads where they should not. People are not using overground or underground passes. We want to encourage people to change their mindset,” the minister added.

New Delhi is preparing to host more than 100,000 foreign visitors during the 3-14 October event and the tourism ministry has also been training motorised rickshaw drivers to be more courteous to help improve the city’s image.

“We must behave as citizens of a big, good international city,” said Chidambaram.