THIS is with reference to the Karachi police’s campaign against wrong driving.

Driving on the wrong side is now an accepted mode of driving. This is not something happening in outlying areas (though I don’t see any reason why ‘outlying areas’ be permitted this violation of traffic rules). I request the traffic police chief to station himself incognito at any place in Saddar, Zebunnisa Street, Abdullah Haroon Road or such busy thoroughfares as University Road, Sharea Faisal, Abul Hassan Ispahani Road, Rashid Minhas or the signal-free corridor from Empress Market via the Quaid’s mausoleum to Hassan Square and see the traffic.

Motorcyclists drive the wrong way, sometimes without lights, while women and children ride with them. They have no shame about it, for they drive on wrong side at break-neck speed. Look at a pedestrian’s plight. He is looking right to see if any traffic is coming from the right so s/he could cross the road. But when s/he finds clear from the right, a motorcycle comes from the left. There are countless cases where people have died or suffered fractures.

It is not just motorcyclists who violate this fundamental principle of civilised driving.

Buses, cars, delivery vans and police vehicles also brazenly drive the wrong way. In the morning one can see school vans doing the same — only to avoid driving perhaps a few minutes more on the same track to find a ‘cut’ for a right turn.

Just stand near the Saddar post office between Preedy Street and Abdullah Haroon, and see the tamasha. All concepts of driving by the book have disappeared. Right under the nose of the policemen, all vehicles are driven the way their drivers want. At the church, you can see traffic anarchy. Go further at the crossing of Zebunnisa Street and Preedy Street and see how recklessly motorcyclists and cars drive toward M. A. Jinnah Road on a street that is supposed to be one way.

The road from Zainab Market to Art Council is technically one way, but nobody cares and they use it as a two-way street.

The driving on the wrong side is a threat to millions of people who just want to cross the road.

M. Aleemuddin
Karachi

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2018