Knock, knock; your e-challan is here

Warning tickets are a step to alert citizens that the system will be launched soon

LAHORE: The City Traffic Police Lahore (CTPL) has started sending warnings to violators at their home addresses with screenshots of the offence on the “warning ticket”.

Punjab Safe City Authority Media Manager Haroon Yusuf said traffic department has been posting warning tickets from last week and an average of 200 tickets were being issued daily. The initiative has been carried out in collaboration with the Punjab Safe City Authority (PSCA), “The practice will continue for one month. Afterwards, they (CTPL and PSCA) will start sending Electronic Violation Tickets,” he said.



“As many as 1,000 such warning tickets were also issued in December 2016. Issuance of these warning tickets is a step to alert citizens that the system of e-challaning is being launched,” Yusuf said.

“Currently, CCTV cameras, installed by PSCA, are only capturing such violations of Mall Road.”

Haroon said authorities were monitoring and issuing e-tickets for a single violation, which is breaking traffic signals. There are 24 violations mentioned on the warning ticket.

“These are serving the purpose as people call 15 to inquire why the ticket was delivered to their address and how they would have to pay it,” said an official of the PSCA dealing with e-challans.

“We tell them that it is just a warning so that the driver should be careful next time,” he added. Haroon said many a time, citizens had been advised to register vehicles against their own names so that the challan does not get posted to some other person’s address.



The step is part of the project by Punjab Police to introduce an Electronic Traffic Violation Management System and License Penalty System throughout the province. High-ups of Punjab Police had conducted a series of meetings to discuss the system. In June, Punjab Traffic DIG Farooq Mazhar had claimed the system would be of international standards like any other developed country. Under it, an online record of violations of a driver would be maintained. Every violation would have certain point penalties and authorities could cancel a driving licence for a period of three months to two years.

On violations amounting to 20 points in the first year, the driver would be stopped from taking the wheel and his/her licence would be cancelled for three months. In the second year, the violator would be banned from driving a vehicle and the licence would remain suspended for six months on violations of up to 16 points. While in the third year, the licence would be cancelled for one year and a ban on driving would be imposed on violations of up to 12 points. In the fourth year, licences would be cancelled with a ban on driving for one year on violations of up to 10 points.



In case a violator does not pay the fine, he or she would not be able to get their documents updated. Every violation ticket carries the record of previous violation points and these would be updated online.

Violators, on repeated cancellations of their licences, would be required to appear for a driving test and repay the fee with mandatory classes on driving and traffic rules.

Mazhar further said the department had sent a proposed draft to the law department for amendments in Traffic Police Rules. Under the new system, if a death has been caused in a road accident due to traffic violation and police find the violator guilty during investigation, his or her licence would remain suspended for two years even if the violator reaches an agreement of reconciliation with the aggrieved family.

Mazhar claimed the new e-challan penalty point system would help reduce accidents and maintain a smooth flow. To get these plans up and running, work by CTPL and PSCA is already under way. Installation of CCTV cameras at 71 locations would help catch traffic violations more effectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2017.