Safety week: Wardens swap ticket books for handbills and roses

The traffic police would distribute 2,500 CDs, each with eight songs interspersed with road safety messages.

LAHORE:

The City Traffic Police kicked off a campaign to raise awareness about traffic rules on Monday, though it seems nobody told the motorists. Many drivers, fearing the approaching warden was about to issue a challan, sped off rather than listen to a friendly lecture on safe driving.

Under Road Safety Week, which is to run till July 10, the traffic police will distribute 800,000 pamphlets about traffic rules to motorists. They aimed to hand out 100,000 pamphlets on Monday, the city’s 2,300 wardens given 50 each to give to wayward drivers.

The wardens have also been advised to not issue tickets for minor violations and instead guide motorists on how to drive within the rules. The public was less informed about the campaign.

This correspondent witnessed Muhammad Aslam commit a minor infringement when he switched lanes at Faisal Chowk without using his indicator lights. The warden at the chowk signalled him to stop, but Aslam sped away when the lights turned green.

But at Neela Gumbad, another warden approached his car. “I thought that they had sent a wireless message and were going to arrest me,” Aslam told The Express Tribune. He said he jumped out of his car and told the warden that he was in a hurry and had to pick up his boss.

“He just handed me a pamphlet and walked away,” said Aslam.

A warden said that he had seen several such incidents on Monday. “The car drivers are less aware of the pamphlets. The motorcyclists have been stopping. They’ve all been very relieved not to be challaned,” he said. He doubted that the campaign would have a lasting effect on traffic. “The only way these people can learn is if they are heavily fined,” he said.

Another warden on Jail Road agreed. “Even in the so-called civilised countries, the citizens only follow the traffic rules because they know they will have to pay exorbitant fines if they don’t,” he said.

He said it was good that the traffic police were trying to tackle the issue, but an awareness campaign was not needed. “The Internet is full of videos and pictures of people killed in accidents. Lack of awareness is not the main issue,” he said. “People break the rules deliberately.”

A warden on Ferozepur Road said that the traffic police needed to develop a more consistent strategy. “Sometimes they say increase the number of challans, sometimes they say issue 10 challans a day or no challans. Sometimes they tell us to challan motorcyclists for not wearing helmets, sometimes not to,” he said.

Chief Traffic Police Officer Ahmad Mobin said that the campaign aimed to reach 2.5 million people in Lahore and help them understand why it’s important to follow traffic rules. He said that the traffic police would also distribute 2,500 CDs, each with eight songs interspersed with road safety messages. Also, female wardens would hand 2,500 roses to female drivers along with the safety pamphlets.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2011.