Traffic police actions spark public outcry
Traffic police officers remove a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinder from a rickshaw. LPG cylinders can explode endangering the lives of passengers. Photo: Jalal Qureshi/EXPRESS/FILE
In various areas of the city, the traffic police's strategy of setting up blockades in group formations has stirred discontent among citizens, making their daily lives miserable. Frustration grows as motorists, primarily car and motorcycle riders, face abrupt stops in the middle of the road, leading to confrontations with the traffic police.
Residents complain that while enforcing traffic rules is essential, it appears to be selectively applied, focusing mainly on private cars and motorcycles. The issue of unregistered six-seater rickshaws, freely violating traffic rules across the city, has drawn attention with seemingly little action taken by the authorities. Traffic rules enforcement seems to exempt public transport, including drivers of unregistered vehicles, unfit coaches, minibuses, buses, and water tankers. This double standard has raised questions among the public regarding the fairness of traffic policing.
Near Shafiq Morr, traffic police officers regularly form groups, disrupting traffic flow by stopping and challenging car and motorcycle riders. The process involves handing over offenders to other policemen on the roadside, leaving citizens frustrated with the seemingly arbitrary enforcement.
Similar scenes unfold under the Sohrab Goth flyover, where traffic police officers, in group formations, stop passing cars to check documents. Public opinion suggests that the primary motive behind such group formations is to maximise challans issued, raising concerns about the genuine intention behind traffic control efforts.
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Citizens argue that while they support the enforcement of traffic rules, the focus should extend beyond private vehicles. Public transport, water tankers, six-seat rickshaws and dumpers are observed violating traffic rules throughout the day, prompting questions about their apparent immunity from enforcement.
The public wonders whether dilapidated and smoky public transport, over-speeding coaches, and minibuses on city roads escape the notice of traffic police deliberately, or if their enforcement efforts are disproportionately aimed at car and motorcycle riders.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 31st, 2023