Populace critical of tough driving licence requirements

During the past demi-decade or so, there has been a startling rise in the number of unlicensed drivers plying the roads of Punjab, who have put the onus of driving illegally on the tough licensing requirements in place in the province.

As per data obtained by The Express Tribune, from March 2016 to March 2023, the number of fines, colloquially referred to as challans, for driving without a licence, saw a 52 per cent increase. A breakdown of the data shows that the provincial traffic police issued 477,885 fines in 2016; which increased to 496,636 in 2017. In 2018 the number of challans for unlicensed driving rose to 578,315 and rose further to 581,248 in 2019. The figure climbed to 628,946 in 2020 and increased further to 656,456 in 2021. In 2022, the number of driving without a licence fines increased by 10 per cent to 726,555 - an upsurge which is expected to continue in the present year.

However, many feel that the only reason driving without a licence has seen a rise in recent years is because acquiring a driving permit has become increasingly tough. One such individual is Sajda Khanum, a retired officer from the Education Department, who has failed the licensing test four times now. “The traffic police reject licences on petty issues,” an irate Khanum remarked, adding that the police had rejected her fourth attempt merely because she did not use the turn signal in her driving test.

Agreeing with Khanum’s observations, 52-year-old Muhammad Ali, informed that he had not been able to get his licence for the past 12 months because the traffic police’s medical officer had termed his eyesight as weak. “I showed them my ophthalmologist’s certification regarding my eyesight but it was apparently not good enough for them.”

Khanum and Ali’s assessment has some backing in the data obtained by The Express Tribune as well, which shows a downward trend in the driving licences issued by the Punjab Traffic Police. For instance, in 2020 the department approved 218,653 licences, whereas in 2021 they issued 212,609 licences. In 2022, this number decreased by as much as 40 per cent, as only 128,040 licences were issued in the entire year.

However, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Traffic Police Punjab, Mirza Faran Baig, rubbished claims of the licensing requirements being unnecessarily tough. “We have only streamlined the process and the populace is reacting adversely because you can no longer just show up at the facilitation centre and get a licence,” said Baig. “It is unfair to expect that the department will grant licences to those who cannot show they will drive responsibly on the roads,” the DIG added.

Nusrat Rashid, a local, finds it hard to agree with Baig. “If the process is streamlined, why do they only allow applicants to give their driving test on a departmental automobile, which is not only filthy but also hard to operate?” she retorted, adding that it was common practice in the entire world to allow driving licence hopefuls to use their own vehicles.

Concurring with Rashid, Salman Abid, another local, implored the traffic police to do away with the inefficient system and speed up the licensing process.

To which Baig, the DIG Traffic, responded that the licensing process is already efficient. “We monitor and record the entire driving test, so people know that our decision to grant a licence is not arbitrary. Moreover, we are providing licences in 24-hour shifts now,” he informed while talking to The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2023.