KARACHI, June 19: Every year more than 550 people are killed in road accidents in this city and in most cases the victims fall prey to reckless driving by drivers of public transport means. The traffic police have failed to check the trend and make transport operators to follow the prescribed rules.
The volume of traffic in the metropolis has exceeded one million, but according to data, the number of the public transport vehicles registered with the excise and taxation department is mere 3.38 per cent. Involvement of public transport vehicles in fatal accidents is more than 72 per cent, according to the statistics prepared by traffic police and the transport department of the city government.
This is an alarming situation that has developed in spite of the fact that the traffic police have fined 21,065 drivers during January-May period this year for reckless driving. General behaviour of the public transport drivers, especially those of minibuses and coaches, has also remained unchanged as they continue to violate traffic rules.
The sources said there were numerous complaints of reckless driving by drivers of dumpers and water tankers.
A senior official of the traffic police estimated that around 7,000 water tankers and dumpers were operating in the city but as little as 600 of them were registered with the Motor Vehicles Registration Branch of the traffic police. All such vehicles have to possess a valid fitness certificate, he said.
He stressed the need for evolving an effective system to register the number of such vehicles which carried the registration of other cities. Many water tankers, dumpers and public transport vehicles bearing registration numbers of other cities were plying on city roads without any intimation having been conveyed to the MVR branch, he added.
According to section-50 of the MVR Rules 1960, “a transport vehicle shall notify the permitting authority in case of its stay in the city beyond 14 days,” but this practice had been set aside and no one bothered to intimate the authority, he deplored.
Sources pointed out that the maximum punishment for reckless driving under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance was six-month imprisonment. “There are certain sections under the PPC, but most of the drivers responsible for fatal road accidents are released by the SHO concerned who enjoys the discretionary powers in this regard,” the sources added.
According to the traffic police, the city has been divided into 67 traffic police sections and a section officer is the head of a traffic section. Every section generates ‘revenues’ on a self-help basis and the revenue ranges from Rs2,000 to 5,000 a day. All the buses, minibuses and coaches running on different routes pay a specific amount to every traffic section coming in their way and this payment is made during every trip.
A transport operator on condition of anonymity said: “If we do not grease their (traffic police officials) palms, we cannot run our business. It is part of the ‘system’ and whoever wants to survive, he has to pay the bribe.”
The traffic police officials usually impose fine on those drivers who would evade the bribe. Some transport operators had asked their drivers to stop making such payments after being perturbed by detention of their vehicles for, what the police had described as, ‘some reasons’. “Buses, minibuses and coaches are forcibly borrowed from transport operators whenever the police would need them,” a transport operator said, adding that the police would promise compensation for using them but the commitment had never been fulfilled.
The traffic police have recently launched a campaign against the motorcyclists not wearing helmets while driving. During the current drive, 78,133 motorcyclists have so far been fined.
One of the motorcyclists, Kamran Tayyab, stated that he was intercepted at Numaish intersection by traffic police who demanded Rs200. He said that when he refused to pay the amount, the police issued him a ticket pertaining to fine for not wearing helmet.
People said that the traffic police, instead of regulating the traffic, would hide themselves until spotting a prey and would appear suddenly to hunt it.
They observed that despite the presence of traffic police at different intersections in the city, violation of traffic rules did happen and the officials would often turn a blind eye towards the offenders.
