Traffic ticket lands at citizen’s doorstep

New system delivers fine to violator’s home once misdemeanour recorded

KARACHI:

The Traffic Violation Evidence System (TVES) has slowly begun to bear results.

The system directly delivers the traffic violation ticket (challan) to the violator's doorstep, after the violation is recorded by traffic police officials present at different intersections of the city.

To B's* surprise, on Saturday February 13, Karachi traffic police's TVES challan landed at her home for signal jumping a week before. She told The Express Tribune that, last Saturday, her driver in her black Toyota Corolla jumped the signal on Sunset Boulevard Road, and there was no traffic cop present there.



Surprisingly, she said, one week later, a challan arrived at her home. Applauding the traffic police's efforts, she said she immediately deposited the fine at the Gizri traffic section. "It's good to know that we are getting more and more organised," she said.

However, according to B, there is a flaw in the system. The challan must be delivered to the driver, not the owner of the vehicle, she pointed out. She added that even in Western countries, where this practice was normal, the challan was dispatched to the driver's name.

Talking about the issue, a traffic police official, Muhammad Idrees, who is a reader to Traffic DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh, said if someone is driving a car without a licence, the fine would be imposed on the owner of the car, too. The same applies in this case, he said, adding that if someone violates the traffic law, the blame will be placed on the vehicle owner.

He advised citizens not to take the system lightly. If a challan arrives at your home, immediately visit our payment booth at our 15 traffic sections. Or, he said, one can pay the fine on any Easypaisa outlet in Karachi.

Those who do not pay

Talking about the violator who ignores the system, Idrees said the traffic police was all set to take legal action against such people. For defaulters who have changed their homes, he said soon they will give advertisements in newspapers asking them to contact the traffic police. "We will also circulate the list of defaulters among traffic police officials on roads," he said, adding that during routine checking, they will trace such defaulters.

Also, he said, the file of the violator's vehicle will not be able to be transferred in case of a sale if the fines are not cleared.



When asked if the traffic police will send challans to the vehicles owned by the government, he responded that they have already done that. He explained that with the help of this system, they have even traced vehicles with fake number government plates. "Such a list has been sent to the Anti-Car Lifting Cell," he said.

*Name withheld to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, February 15^th,  2016.