LAHORE: The City Traffic Police is likely to launch e-traffic fine system (IT-led solution to traffic violations) next week on an experimental basis to minimise malpractice, improve vigilance on wardens and their efficiency, identify road violation patterns at certain points and facilitate motorists.

Currently, 2,200 wardens working in two shifts are issuing challans from fine books and motorists deposit fines in the National Bank of Pakistan branches.

Citizens are most of the time inconvenienced as they have to return from traffic sectors without their documents or licences which are not submitted by ticketing officers (wardens) in time due to various reasons.

Wardens have been facing multiple punishments against misuse of fine books, for tampering with record, receiving bribe from motorists for not issuing fines and showing dereliction of duty.

Traffic police authorities claim e-challaning will enable them to stop misuse of fine books by wardens, help analyse traffic engineering, evaluate key performance indicators of wardens and track their locations on roads.

According to a warden the system will help detect tampering in manual fine books and restrict wardens to their beats but it will remain beyond the authorities’ reach to stop malpractices of those wardens who extend undue favours to motorists by receiving bribe and avoid challaning.

Chief Traffic Officer Sohail Chaudhry says 20 android phones (each having an approximate cost of Rs20,000) and as many small printing devices (Rs18,000 each), which have been provided to the CTP by the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), will be given to ticketing officers in the first phase.

He says after receiving feedback and detecting loopholes in the test-run in a month or so, the project will be further extended in assistance with the PITB. He says a warden will make different entries like type of vehicle, fine category and a motorist’s licence status in the android phones and give command to the printing device to hand over traffic violation ticket to the violator.

The CTO further says the motorists will also have an option to pay fine to the officer on the spot. The officer will deposit fine tickets and amount to his respective sector the same day, he says. If they do not afford to pay fine on the spot, he says, the motorists will be issued manual fine slip.

Sohail Chaudhry says e-ticketing data will automatically be added to the software installed at the Central Control Room and help check the performance of wardens and ensure their presence at their beats.

The data will help the traffic police examine trends of multiple violations on specific roads and at signals in order to improve road engineering and traffic management, he says.

The CTO sees outsiders who will be able to pay fine on the spot as major beneficiaries. E-challaning will replace the manual system once the shortcomings in the new system are addressed, he says.