The licence drive

In the ongoing effort to take criminals and other law-evading citizens of Karachi to task, the city’s traffic police recently moved to impose heavy fines and jail-time on drivers who do not hold valid driving licences. The firm stance and harsh punishments planned for perpetrators made it appear as though the authorities are serious about finally implementing an already-existing law. It goes without saying that all drivers need to carry their licences. But due to lack of implementation and the absence of serious attitudes, only 1.2 million people in the city possess driving licences, whereas 3.8 million vehicles are registered.

Despite the good intentions of the traffic police, the way the plan was carried out points to the utter unpreparedness of the authorities. Faced with threats of being imprisoned, thousands descended on the driving licence branches in the city, and with not enough staff to cater to the huge number that turned out, the police had to resort to baton-charging to control the crowd. This completely clueless performance of the traffic police has now led to the postponement of the drive till February next year, perhaps to give citizens enough time to acquire their licences. However, ideally there should not be any need to remind citizens to follow what is an already-established, basic law. At the same time, the traffic authorities needed to look into their own shortcomings as well, as the process for obtaining one’s licence is complicated and rife with corruption. Agents and off-duty traffic constables working in plain clothes look to make the extra buck by ‘facilitating’ applicants via ‘fast-tracking’ their applications. Those who refuse to give bribes are intentionally led astray, while those at the top remain aloof to these unethical practices. The move to ensure licence possession is important. However, the process needs to be systematised to encourage citizens to come forth and obtain driving licences with ease, so long as they display competency in driving skills. Corrupt elements need to be removed and the traffic police must be better prepared to deal with the citizenry. No citizen should require a ‘contact’ simply to obtain a necessary government-issued document.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2015.

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