Tampered number plates dodge cameras

Lamination also foils e-challan system for vehicles

LAHORE:

Use of laminated and substandard number plates by vehicle owners is affecting the issuance of e-challans to violators of traffic rules with the help of Safe Cities Authority cameras.

The lamination of a number plate costs just Rs250, while the amounts if fine imposed through e-challans are higher. A large number of motorcycles in the city do not have number plates on rear mudguards. In addition to citizens, even policemen are seen riding motorcycles without number plates.

More than 4.4 million e-challans have been issued in the city in two years since the system was introduced, according to the Safe Cities Authority.

During the past three months, the traffic police have issued challans to more than 400,000 vehicles as part of a crackdown against tinted windows and non-standard designs of number plates.

Since the installation of Safe Cities Authority cameras in Lahore, the traffic system was expected to improve, but the use of tampered and varying designs of number plates as well as motorcycles lacking number plates has helped many owners avoid fines.

Muhammad Habib, a shopkeeper at Montgomery Road, a well-known spare parts market, said use of lamination paper available in the shops made it impossibles for the cameras installed on roads to capture the registration number of the vehicle. He said the dark lamination paper was available for Rs150 to Rs250, which was used by a large number of car owners.

Chief Operating Officer Safe Cities Authority Kamran Khan told The Express Tribune that the organisation was also facing difficulties due to lamination paper and tampered number plates.

He said the laminated plates were clearly visible during the day but at night the cameras taking pictures with LED did not give clear results.

"We have taken legal action against dozens of such vehicles and motorcycles with the help of the traffic police," he said.

He said the authority had issued more than 4.4 million e-challans in two years and deposited Rs339 million in the national exchequer after collecting fines. He said fines had been imposed against private and commercial vehicles, as well as motorcycles over violation of traffic rules.

Kamran Khan said action had also been started against vehicle owners who did not submit the e-challan sent through an SMS service on their mobile phone numbers present in their record at the excise department. The official said the system was not only helping enforce the traffic laws but also ensuring revenue collection in time.

Director Excise and Taxation Rana Qamarul Hassan Sajjad said that in 2016 the department along with the traffic and city police had launched a campaign against fake and tampered number plates, and the action had continued since then.

"We want number plates to be displayed on all vehicles and motorcycles as per our pattern, but the government has not been able to issue new number plates for almost the past year and a half," he said. Challan should not be issued on computerised number plate but taking action against tampering with number plates is the responsibility of traffic police.

Chief Traffic Officer Lahore Captain (retd.) Syed Hamad Abid said that in the last three months, the city traffic police had issued challans to owners of thousands of vehicles for having damaged number plates, tampering with them, not installing clearly visible number plates and erasing numbers to avoid e-challan.

He said a crackdown had also been launched in Lahore during the past two days against unauthorised government number plates of vehicles. He said immediate action was being taken against owners of vehicles who did not pay e-challan. The CTO said the police officials who violated the traffic rules also faced fines and such instances were brought to the notice of their officers.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2020.