Traffic police say they will not let motorcyclists go one wheeling or do other stunts that can jeopardise their and other vehicles’ safety on the Independence Day. However, they are also not issuing tickets to these motorcyclists on August 13 and 14 “to avoid wasting time.” They will focus instead on stopping them from performing such stunts. They have asked the district police to deal with the motorcyclists found one wheeling and performing stunts.
Motorcyclists who have been one-wheeling and performing other dangerous stunts on Independence Day, however, told The Express Tribune they were confident the traffic police would be unable to stop them.
A team of 13 deputy superintendents of police, 124 Inspectors and 2,035 traffic wardens would perform duties on major city roads on August 14.
Sadar SP (Traffic) Asif Zafar Cheema told The Express Tribune these officers would be deployed on roads where motorcyclists had been gathering in the past to perform stunts or race one another. He said they would work in coordination with the district police so that the violators could be given into their custody without a delay.
“Traffic police will not issue tickets. We will just stop motorcyclists performing dangerous stunts,” he said.
He said the decision was taken in light of the past experience.
“Many motorcyclists don’t carry driving licences or registration books with them on August 14 so that it becomes very difficult to issue tickets. A lot of time is wasted in arguments,” he said. “We will just catch them and hand them over to the police,” he added.
Chief Traffic Officer Ahmad Mobin said 13 emergency squads had been formed to patrol major roads. He said Lahore Ring Road (LRR), GT Road, The Mall, Jail Road, Canal Road, Ferozepur Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Township, Shalimar Link Road, GT Road, Baghbanpura and Wahdat Road were particularly popular among these motorcyclists.
He said beat in charges were directed to ensure patrol on LRR at every 200 metres.
A man identifying himself as Sunny said he had been performing stunts for seven years and that he was never arrested. “The activity is more fun when the traffic policemen are chasing us,” he said.
Sunny said motorcyclists usually decided upon a location in advance but change the rendezvous if there is a risk of running into police.
He said he could not understand why traffic police were so keen on preventing one-wheeling on August 14 considering it continued around the year.
He said those arrested on the day were mostly ‘amateurs’. “Most of them cannot even perform any stunts,” he said.
Another motorcyclist, identifying himself as Tony, said there had been situations when he was trapped by policemen on both sides of road and he still escaped.
He said at times they sent a few motorcyclists to survey roads and the serious stunt driver arrived only when they were sure there were no police around.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 14th, 2011.
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