Bikers flaunt traffic rules in capital

Riding without helmets, lights, rear view mirrors endangers lives

ISLAMABAD: Despite a public awareness campaign on road safety by Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP), busy roads of the Capital are full of motorbike riders, who violate traffic rules with impunity putting precious lives at risk.

Riding bikes without helmets, faulty rear and front lights at night, defective indicators and missing rear view mirrors they (bikers)  jeopardise not only their lives but of other road users as well.

The ITP launched the awareness campaign for safety of motorcyclists in February on directives of Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar.

IGP Islamabad Tariq Masood Yasin constituted teams to educate road users and around 15,000 bikers were made aware of the risks involved when they ride with families on busy roads.

However lack of enforcement by police has made bikers flout  all rules without any fear.

Motorists  complain that the majority of bike riders risk their lives and that of others by not having rear and even front lights.

"I barely missed a bike in front that was carrying a family with two children and had no light at the rear end, as I got blinded with lights of incoming traffic," said Irshad an office worker who commutes through the Islamabad Expressway daily.

He said there are hundreds of similar bikers who use main roads without any front and rear lights and notices their fatal accidents frequently. Another commuter Fawad was worried about the motorbike riders who change lanes without checking traffic in rear and do not have mirrors.

"These [rear view mirrors] break up frequently and also spoil the look of my bike," said Shahzad a young student near Aabpara, while justifying their illegal missing. A traffic sergeant said they regularly challan bike riders, but unfortunately they prefer to pay a few hundred rupees in fine then to repair their bikes.

SSP Traffic Malik Matloob while launching the awareness campaign had admitted that "many road accidents of motorcyclists occur due to their faulty lights, indicators and no rear view mirrors," however he seems to have forgotten about it with the end of campaign.

The motor vehicle drivers have demanded of the Interior Minister for revising fine rates, harsher penalties and zero tolerance against the violators to cut down on the number of road accidents, save precious lives, and manage the growing unruly traffic.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2017.