Traffic penalties prove ineffective

City records over 0.5m violations in a month

LAHORE:

Strict measures, including heavy fines, arrests, registration of criminal cases and impounding of vehicles have not deterred the residents of Lahore from violating traffic rules as over half a million violations were recorded in the city during January.

According to officials, over 28,000 motorcyclists were issued challans for riding in the city without helmets during the month. Official data showed that 843 vehicles, including motorcycles and rickshaws, were impounded because of being driven by underage drivers and 2,255 others for emitting smoke.

As many as 4,817 tickets were issued to drivers over driving without licence, 131,000 for violation of lane, stop line and zebra crossing.

About 28,000 violators were penalised for driving vehicles without number plates.

Strict action was against 6,000 vehicles over the violation of one-way traffic, 16,000 vehicles for causing disruption in the flow of traffic, 7,000 for violation of red light and 3,000 for drivers not wearing seat belts.

Moreover, action was taken against 6,000 drivers over suing mobile phone 10,000 for driving dangerously.

A traffic official said while speaking to The Express Tribune that the actual number of violations might be higher as only the record pertaining to the instances where tickets had been issued by the wardens was maintained.

Read: Rawalpindi’s traffic relief initiative unveiled

Replying to a question, Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Ammara Athar said the purpose of issuing penalty tickers was to reform the public behavior, but not to raise revenue.

Punjab Police had intensified a crackdown against the traffic rule violations across the province after a teenage driver rammed his car into a vehicle in then metropolis in November, leaving dead six members of a family, including children.

The authorities had increased the fine for the violation to Rs2,000 and also started registering first information reports (FIRs) against the violators.

Meanwhile, at least 10 people were killed and 1,230 others injured in 1,192 road traffic crashes (RTCs) reported across all districts of Punjab during the past 24 hours.

Of the injured, 514 people with serious injuries were shifted to different hospitals, while 716 victims with minor injuries were treated at the incident sites by Rescue Medical Teams.

As many as 73 per cent of the traffic accidents involved motorbikes.

Official data showed that 692 adult and 38 underage drivers, 186 pedestrians and 362 passengers were among the victims of the RTCs.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 4^th 2024.