LAHORE - There is no mechanism to regulate vehicular traffic on the motorway during the dense fog. The motorway is often closed and re-opened on assumption instead of relying on scientific information or adhering to reliable rules about the visibility criteria for the road traffic. As a result, the motorway remains closed during the foggy days, putting Lahore-Islamabad and Lahore-Multan bound traffic in great mess. The buses are held up at the zero point for hours on end, blighting the lives of the commuters. Sometimes the vehicles are diverted to the highways which climaxes into causing scuffles between the passengers and operators on the return of ticket price. The ugly situation erupts because the motorway police do not inform the inter-city bus terminals in advance and the drives come to know about the closure of the motorway at the entry point. When asked, the meteorological department spokesman said they were not bound to inform the motorway police about the weather condition unless they ask for it. Their primary function is to provide information to the Civil Aviation Authority about the density of fog - visibility for the safety of air traffic. The air traffic control wing of the authority decides about the landing or taking off of the planes accordingly. Usually, the landing of planes is prohibited when the visibility in fog is less than one kilometer while the take off is prohibited at a visibility less then 300 meters. There is, however, no criterion for vehicular traffic which moves at a speed ten times lower than the air traffic which can operate in misty and normal foggy weather, he further said. The motorway traffic police sources said vehicular traffic on the Motorway was not allowed in fog owing to the fear of accidents and loss of lives. The fog density varies from urban to plain areas. In some pockets it is dense which is dangerous for traffic. The motorway police also get information from the met office about fog or winds and there is no experts wing to decide when and where to close and re-open the road. All is done on personal calculation, the sources said. The Motorway is usually closed after midnight and re-opened at around 11 am or 9 am as per the weather situation. Most of the time the Motorway is re-opened when the sun is clearly visible and the fog disappears completely.