Greenwich students take traffic lessons to the streets by targeting drivers

For three days the group will hand out pamphlets and stop those who break signals.

KARACHI: Greenwich University put its students to a good cause by launching a three-day campaign to make more drivers aware of road safety and polio immunisation this week.

The campaign will run for three to four hours in several parts of the city in collaboration with Sindh Traffic Police and Rotary club.

On the first day in Clifton, though, it caught a few people by surprise. “What are you up to,” asked two elderly men who stopped their car at Teen Talwar when they saw the students. “Isn’t the traffic police here to fine people?” asked one of them.

Assistant professor Tahira Khan politely explained that their motive was to highlight that it will take a lot more than fines to stop traffic violations. “This can only happen if people are aware of traffic rules and regulations and they start following them voluntarily,” she told the men.

The group of 65 students distributed leaflets, brochures and badges among commuters at traffic signals around Teen Talwar roundabout. They even stopped people from breaking the signal at intersections.

A media science student, Salar Aziz Khoso, saw that even traffic police ignored cars with tinted windows and government numberplates. “In order to facilitate a few privileged ones, these police officials end up disrupting the flow of traffic,” he said.

“We also got to know that around half of the commuters either do not have their driving licenses or do not bother to carry them while driving,” said an assistant professor, Lubna Ahsan.

As the campaign coincides with a three-day national polio immunization drive, the students also distributed awareness material on dispelling myths about the vaccination. They will be working at Club Road on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2012.