Traffic management: Shackles await rule breakers

Citizens complain traffic police only going after drivers of buses, rickshaws

KARACHI:

The traffic police are all set to put you behind bars if you dare violate traffic rules, except if you are driving a fancy car.

Earlier this month, the traffic department had announced that violators of traffic signals and one-way roads will be presented before a judicial traffic magistrate under Section 99 of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance starting August 10. They also announced that action will be taken against bus drivers who let passengers ride on the rooftop.

Since only drivers of buses, rickshaws, taxis and Suzuki pick-up vans have so far been apprehended; several citizens have accused the traffic police of discrimination.



Rickshaw driver Mustaqeem claimed the traffic police do not dare to fine violators riding prestigious vehicles. "The laws are only for us, the poor and the vulnerable," he said at Nipa Chowrangi, adding that he was fined for going wrong way at Civic Centre. "I literally begged the warden to spare me," he said. "Had I violated the law in my private car, nothing like this would have happened."

Urban Resource Centre's Zahid Farooq pointed out that it is people driving expensive cars who violate the most traffic in the city. "Does the traffic police in Karachi have the courage to present the driver of a Pajero before the courts?" he asked.

For his part, Traffic DIG Amir Ahmed Shaikh rejected accusations that the operation was one-sided. There are five categories in which the police are charging the violators: one-way violations, signal jumping, Qingqi rickshaws, boarding passengers on the rooftop of buses and heavy traffic on roads during odd hours, he explained.

"We are presenting the violators before the magistrate without any discrimination," he insisted, adding that even if a Pajero driver violated the traffic rules, he would be dealt with in the same way as a bus driver. He failed to give the exact number of private car drivers who have been presented before the judicial magistrate.

No other option?

The conductor of Marwat coach at Qayyumabad Chowrangi accepted that it was illegal to board passengers on the rooftop but insisted that it was not possible to stop the large number of people who are waiting to board the bus.

"There aren't many buses in the city," he pointed out. "When anxious passengers see a public bus making its way to their stop, they all rush towards it and the situation gets out of control," he explained. "If we stop passengers from going to the rooftop or overloading, they abuse us. If we let them perch on the rooftop, we are presented before courts."

According to NGO Shehri — Citizens for a Better Enviornment's general manager Amber Alibhai neither the law enforcement agencies including government nor its people are lawful. She felt it was natural for the people to sit on rooftops, despite it being dangerous and unsafe, when there aren't enough buses.

Farooq said the government tries every time to satisfy the citizens with the colourful Bus Rapid Transport lines, he pointed out. "I have been hearing about these lines since 1985 but nothing has happened to this date," he said.

The traffic DIG said they cannot continue to let citizens violate traffic laws just because the transport structure was not proper in the city. "We have to start at some point," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.