LAHORE - A senior police officer has come up with a novel idea to curb violations of traffic rules in the provincial metropolis.
Lahore DIG (Operations) Shahzad Akbar has recommended to the Punjab Police Inspector General that the penalty or fine on violations of traffic laws should be enhanced significantly. The officer believes that this punitive action would help police control violations of traffic rules in the metropolis.
The DIG has recommended to the police chief that the fine amount on motorcyclists should be enhanced from Rs 200 to Rs 2,000. Similarly, a fine of Rs 10,000 should be imposed on car drivers in case of any violation instead of the existing Rs 500.
On the other hand, citizens have rejected the proposal outright, stating that it would multiply miseries of the poor people besides providing an ample opportunity to the corruption-tainted police to mint money from the road users.
“First the policemen, who themselves routinely violate the traffic signals on city roads, should be punished. Then, all the people should be treated equally. All violators of traffic laws, including the rich and powerful, should be punished,” said a schoolteacher Muhammad Waseem Iqbal. He said that there are many laws in the country but that laws are never implemented fully and equally. “When you will punish a poor motorist but will not take action against a powerful individual then this (new policy) would not work. You can make a difference if you would start implementing any law across the board,” he suggested.
A rickshaw driver Talib Hussain said the new policy of huge penalty would only benefit the corruption-tainted policemen. “At present, police collect only a few hundred rupees as bribe from road users. After this policy they would start collecting thousands,” he said.
A car-rider Hassan told The Nation that many policemen don’t care about traffic signals when they travel on city roads. “They (policemen) cross red-lights without any fear or hesitation. This is a common practice here and you can observe this at any traffic signal. When the police would start following the traffic laws, the citizens will not be left with any other choice except to obey traffic laws.”
A truck driver Arshad Khan said that the police are part of the problem in one way or the other. He said that the traffic officers regularly collect bribe on “monthly and weekly” basis from the owners of bus and truck stands.
He said the traffic police should fully implement the existing laws irrespective of the social status of the violators. The police never impose fine on the drivers of powerful individuals and government officers, he said. “Only, the poor motorists and the drivers of commercial transport are taken to task.”
Some police officers who spoke to The Nation on the condition of anonymity said that the new proposed policy was not meant to control the violations of traffic laws rather it is being designed to help the cash-strapped government collect revenues.
DIG Akbar last week sent a letter to the police headquarters, seeking more than 400 times increase in the penalty amount.
“It is submitted that almost daily 6,000 traffic violations are observed in city district Lahore and this is a huge number. Such violations are a major cause of slow traffic, blockage of roads, and accidents,” the letter says. “Enhancement of penalty/fine on the traffic violation can help restrain people from such violations.”
The letter further says, “Therefore, (it is) requested that penalty/ fine on the following traffic violations may kindly be enhanced (from Rs 200 to Rs 2000 for motorcyclists and from Rs 500 to Rs 10,000 for car/jeep).
WEARHELMETDRIVE
City traffic police department has decided to launch a full-fledged campaign in the metropolis to force motorcyclists to use helmets while driving. A police spokesman said the helmet enforcement drive will be launched on Monday (today) all over the metropolis. The violators will be issued fine tickets on the spot.
