Hefty fines fail to curtail road violations

Where the government earns greater revenue through heavier challans, drivers continue to disregard traffic rules

KARACHI:

Among the many ways of enforcing traffic laws, improving surveillance on roads is the first and foremost step towards greater road safety. Unfortunately, the government's decision to impose greater fines is simply the easier way out of the problem.

Muhammad Afzal, a resident of DHA Phase 5, who runs an online taxi, believed that the Traffic Police officers had failed to strictly enforce traffic regulations throughout the city.  "Wardens stand in groups at different places on roads and stop random vehicles. However, many a times they do not bother fining cars, which are clearly breaking the rules," observed Afzal.

"While driving through the II Chundrigar Road from Malir, I regularly see people driving motorcycles on the wrong side of busy roads like Shahrah-e-Faisal however, no one stops them," concurred Taufiq Ahmed, another motorist.

According to Zeeshan, a motorcyclist who commutes daily to Saddar from Korangi, it is true that most traffic violations are committed by motorcyclists, but he has rarely seen a police officer fine a motorcyclist for breaking the rules.

"I have been riding a bike in this city for at least thirty years and have seen the traffic system getting worse day by day. Until 15 to 20 years ago, if a driver broke a traffic signal, a police sergeant on a motorcycle would follow him and stop him for a challan. Unfortunately, the police have stopped doing this since a long time. Now only cargo-carrying pickups are randomly stopped often without any violations," claimed Zeeshan.

It should be noted that the previous government had increased the rate of fines for violations of traffic rules on the recommendation of the Traffic Police. For example, the fine for underage driving was Rs500 before it was increased to Rs1500 for driving a motorcycle, Rs2000 for driving a car and Rs4000 for driving a large vehicle. Similarly, the fine for riding a motorcycle without a helmet was increased from Rs150 to Rs500.

However, despite the above-mentioned increase in the fines, not only did the traffic violations in the city not decrease but also the number of traffic accidents was almost as high as before. According to official data, a total of 145 traffic accidents took place in the city in 2023, in which the number of deaths was 161, while in the first 6 months of 2024, 93 road accidents were reported in which 104 people died.

On the contrary, the increase in the rate of fines for violations of traffic rules increased the revenue of the Sindh government by almost 100 per cent, with the Traffic Police collecting Rs331 million as fines in the first six months of 2023 and a total of Rs565 million in the first 6 months of 2024.

Ahmed Nawaz Cheema, DIG Traffic Police, conceded to the claims that the increase in fines had not improved the traffic system in the city.

"One reason behind this is that our rate of fines is still quite low compared to other countries while our rate of traffic violations is very high. Furthermore, we follow a manual system of issuing challans due to which tracking all drivers violating traffic rules is difficult. Moreover, about 85 per cent of traffic violations involve a motorcyclist while 65 per cent of the city's transport comprises of motorcycles. Manually monitoring such many motorcycles is quite difficult," asserted Cheema, while speaking to the Express Tribune.