Heavy traffic fines proposal ‘ignores’ bikers’ economic constraints,More than 6000 challaned
bysouthpunjabnews.com-
Traffic police on Monday kicked off a drive in the provincial capital
as well as in Multan and other big cities against those violating traffic rules, particularly the motorcyclists,
amid complaints of imposing heavy fines on them, which many think, are
beyond their paying capacity.
The prime focus of the traffic wardens remained motorcyclists whom
they slap fines on city’s roads for not wearing helmets and on other
charges.Multanities pleaded that LHC has ordered for using helmet in Lahore only but traffic police was applying it on all the cities in the province.
The main focus of the campaign was on those not using helmet while
riding bikes as the traffic wardens were seen intercepting
motorcyclists, making them stand in queues on the city roads for giving
them fine tickets.
The helmet rule was vigorously enforced on The Mall, where
motorcyclists without the safety gear were denied entry by the traffic
police.
An official told South Punjab News that at as many as 32 points on The Mall the
wardens were deployed with special instructions to check entry of
motorcyclists without helmets.
As per traffic police figures, the wardens imposed heavy fines on
5,315 motorcyclists on the first day of the crackdown, including 1,276
those who tried to enter The Mall without wearing helmet.
More than 40 wardens were especially deployed on various city roads,
in addition to regular ones, to make the campaign successful.
In the later phase, he said, the scheme would be replicated on five
other major arteries of the city where the motorcyclists without helmets
would not be allowed.
The campaign was launched after the traffic police got court
directions to check traffic violations by motorcyclists without helmets,
resulting in fatal accidents in the city.
Quoting a recent analysis report prepared by traffic police, he said,
from 2013 to 2018 as many as 70,000 newly registered motorbikes,
520,000 cars and 207,000 motorcycle rickshaws started using the city’s
roads, further aggravating the traffic situation in Lahore.
He said nearly 6,000 traffic accidents were taking place daily in the
city, particularly involving motorbikes, claiming lives of many road
users and leaving many others disabled for life. The campaign was
launched with a view to bring the toll down by declaring the use of
helmets for motorcyclists mandatory.
For the purpose, he said, a summary requiring legislation and
increase in fine amount had been moved by the traffic police to the
inspector general of Punjab police through the Lahore capital city
police officer for approval of the provincial assembly.
Lahore Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) retired Capt Liaqat Ali Malik
proposed that fine for motorcyclists should be increased from Rs200 to
Rs1,000 and for cars and jeeps from Rs500 to Rs2,000.
Another official said the proposed increase in the fine amount caused
concern among the citizens, particularly the motorcyclists, who termed
it unjustified, arguing that it would further burden them financially as
they used the bikes for being an economical mode of travelling.
They also argued that since the motorcycle was mostly used by the
students, lower government employees and workers in the private sector,
the hefty fines would adversely affect their budgets.
Meanwhile, a proposal by Lahore DIG Operations Shahzad Akbar “added
fuel to fire” as he recommended a fine increase up to Rs2000 for
motorcyclists and Rs10,000 for the motorists.
An official admitted that on the first day of the drive the traffic
wardens imposed heavy fines on the motorcyclists prior to the
legislation.
Policemen are openly violating helmet restriction in the city.
He said the traffic police fine slips mentioned 24 codes (traffic
laws) and on the first day of the campaign, the wardens imposed fines by
reporting violations of more than one codes to most of the
motorcyclists. However, he claimed that the fine amounts ranged from
Rs500 to Rs700.
In addition to that, a large number of motorcyclists were also fined through the E-Challan system.
CTO Liaqat Malik defended the proposed fine increase saying it was
being done on the court’s directions with the prime objective of curbing
fatal accidents.
He said the traffic police kicked off the campaign after creating
massive public awareness about the initiative during the last three
months.
He was of the view that imposition of heavy fines (as proposed in the
summary) was being successfully practiced world over to manage traffic
and to curb fatal road accidents.