Nonfunctional signals hit swift flow of city’s traffic

Karachi’s traffic situation has increasingly deteriorated in the past few years. This is partly due to the influx of motor vehicles and lack of efficient public transport, however, mismanagement of traffic by the local traffic department is another pertinent issue in the megacity.

Reports suggest that most traffic signals on the city’s major highways, which are meant to be controlled and regulated by the traffic police, have been out of service for the past many years. Sources allege that there is no operational issue with the traffic signal systems, and it is rather the traffic police that have deliberately shut them down.

Owing to this, the port city has been experiencing severe traffic jams, especially during peak traffic hours. Sources privy to the matter allege that the deliberate closure of traffic signals is an age-old issue in the megacity and has something to do with the lack of local recruitment in the traffic police.

“At present, there are very few people belonging to Karachi in the local traffic police force. During the past 14 years of the Pakistan People’s Party government, most of the recruitments in the department have been from other parts of Sindh, who are then transferred to the Karachi traffic police.

These recruits, mostly being from rural sectors, have no training in managing traffic in an urban metropolis like Karachi and do not understand the needs of the traffic system here,” the source explained. Speaking in this regard, an official of the Traffic Engineering Bureau said on condition of anonymity that there is no concept of a traffic signal in interior parts of Sindh.

“In the last financial budget, it was planned to install traffic signals in many cities of Sindh with the help of the Traffic Engineering Bureau. However, only a few signals were installed. The Sindh government closed the project saying that the usefulness of traffic signals was not visible. This explains why traffic police officials who are transferred from interior Sindh do not realise the importance of a traffic signal and try to manage the flow of traffic manually instead,” he told, adding that the Karachi traffic police force needs to hire more locals for the department to perform better.

On the other hand, however, Traffic Police South District SP Ghulam Nabi Kerio believes that local recruits from Karachi do not work as diligently as hires from interior Sindh, and are only concerned with completing their mandatory hours.

“There is a shortage of manpower in the traffic police and the recruitment process was affected due to Covid-19 in the past two years, so people from interior Sindh have been transferred and brought here,” he added, justifying the influx of officials from interior Sindh in the local force.

Addressing the closure of traffic signals SP Ghulam Nabi Kerio said that signals are mostly nonfunctional, “usually the flow of traffic increases to one side so the traffic police are forced to operate manually and the traffic signals are often blocked due to the frequent VVIP movements that happen in the city.”

Experts believe that the closure of traffic signals over a prolonged period has instilled a sense of lawlessness in citizens, in regard to traffic rules. So even when traffic signals are operational, it is seen that most Karachiites have grown to disregard them, which can lead to dangerous outcomes. An official of the Traffic Engineering Bureau said on condition of anonymity that his department has 113 signals in the city, and nearly all of them are in working condition.

“In some places, signals are temporarily closed due to construction work being conducted by K- electric and other companies. However, the signals are functional on most of the city’s highways, especially in the southern district,” he told. The official further stated that the main problem regarding traffic management at present is the traffic signals installed on the main highways of the city which have been closed by the traffic police for a long time.

“The installation and maintenance of traffic signals is the responsibility of the traffic engineering but its control system is with the traffic police who open and close the traffic signals daily through switches. The traffic engineering bureau has sent several letters to the traffic police that these signals are working under the Urban Traffic Control (UTC) in which the timing is set according to the movement of traffic so traffic should be controlled through signals instead of manual control,” the official informed