AI to be used to streamline traffic
Absence of traffic police officials and illegal parking has caused a massive traffic jam on Delhi Gate Road. Photo: PPI
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has called for the use of artificial intelligence for effective enforcement of traffic rules.
Chairing a meeting on streamlining the flow of traffic in Lahore, she issued directives to remove temporary encroachments from 31 places in the city. However, she directed the officials concerned not to remove carts of poor vendors from the roads, saying a line should be drawn to allocate space from them.
She also ordered effective road engineering and designing at 82 locations and repair of roads at 28 places in Lahore to improve the flow of traffic. The chief minister issued directives to install ‘tyre killers’ at 88 spots in the city to prevent violation of one-way traffic.
She also called for the installation of digital screens to display warning messages in case of traffic jam on the roads. Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Ammara Athar gave a detailed briefing to the chief minister on a traffic management programme. She said that in the first phase, an e-challan service would be introduced, using the Safe City Authority surveillance cameras for not wearing helmets on motorbikes and seat belts in vehicles.
In the second phase, issuance of e-challans will be started on the basis of monitoring through the cameras of violations of 24 traffic rules.
The chief minister directed the authorities concerned to be strict in enforcing the traffic rules, stressing that playing with the lives of innocent people could not be allowed. “Those who endanger people’s lives cannot be spared because violation of traffic rules is not encouraged in a civilised society,” she added.
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Former senator Pervaiz Rashid, Members of Punjab Assembly Marriyum Aurangzeb and Sania Ashiq, the IG of police, CCPO, commissioner, CPO and DC of Lahore, chief engineers of LDA and TEPA and other relevant officers attended the meeting.
Meanwhile, the traffic police launched a renewed crackdown against motorcyclists travelling without helmets.
The police claimed that more than 90 per cent motorcyclists in the provincial capital had begun wearing helmets during the past year.
To ensure compliance, traffic wardens will take strict action against violators besides imposing fines.
CTO Ammara Athar stated that the helmet enforcement campaign had shown significantly positive results with a noticeable decrease in cases of head injury reported in hospitals.
An order was issued to launch the crackdown on motorcyclists without helmets on all major roads in the city, including The Mall, Canal Road and Jail Road.
The CTO said the traffic officers had penalised over 40,000 motorcyclists travelling without helmets during the past two months, which had helped in visible decrease in the number of helmet-less riders in the city.
Housing plan
Chairing another meeting, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz vowed to fulfill a promise of providing homes to low-income people.
Under an ‘Apni Chhat…Apna Ghar’ programme, more than 3000 housing units will be built for low-income people in every district of Punjab. The houses will be provided to homeless people of Punjab with low monthly income, the CM stated.
She called for a comprehensive plan to complete the construction of 100,000 houses, and directed the authorities concerned to keep the down payment and monthly installments within the minimum possible limits.
The CM issued directives for the completion of a model house within six weeks.
She directed the authorities to ensure the best quality and sustainability in the construction of prefabricated houses. She also called for the construction of the houses under the scheme near the cities in order to keep the public transport within easy reach of the residents. With additional input from APP
Published in The Express Tribune, March 6th, 2024.