Solutions to our traffic woes

The traffic trouble goes on with rampant, senseless, shameless and habitual violations of traffic rules

KARACHI: Traffic’. The first thing that comes to mind upon mention of this word is long queues of vehicles piling up on the major arteries and thoroughfares, paralysing the life of every ordinary citizen of Karachi.

Noise pollution, unmaintained and unfit vehicles plying on major roads that are already congested by illegal parking, are some of the other issues compounding the larger issue and making the lives of the common man miserable.

There appears to be virtually no check and balance on the number of motorcycles being ridden without silencers, let alone the daredevil-style of the motorcyclists to manoeuvre through tense traffic.



In the middle of a struggle to make your way through the traffic, the motorcyclists will appear out of nowhere, shatter your ears with their sirens and silencer-free bikes and speed away as if they were running away from death.

For many motorcyclists, there seems to be no designated lane and no rules of safety for self and others as they put lives at stake with their ring-of-death riding style.

The case is the same for the drivers of cars and other vehicles, who are visibly untrained and invite accidents for even those that drive cautiously, to minimise accidents and ensure the safety of pedestrians, children and bystanders.



Transport buses and other large vehicles blowing out intense amounts of thick smoke are nothing short of a nuisance for the pedestrians and others already stuck in the traffic jam.

Another major issue on the road is slow driving, mainly caused by those using mobile phones while they drive and others that are going slow — and that too in the fast lane, for no apparent reason.

It astonishes me when I frequently notice these car drivers and motorcyclists using their mobile phones and driving recklessly in blatant disregard to the law, but no traffic constable standing on the corner of the road seems to be ready to take action against them.



The traffic trouble goes on with rampant, senseless, shameless and habitual violations of traffic signals, inadequate lights even on the busy and important arteries, double parking outside shops and markets without proper arrangements, and police constables themselves becoming a cause of hindrance by regularly deploying their mobiles in the middle of the roads.

Several problems mentioned in this piece relate to those that are being caused by troublesome individuals, and can be easily avoided by adopting simple practices for the common good of the metropolis and the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2016.