ISLAMABAD: The driver of the vehicle involved in the accident, which led to the death of Religious Minister Abdul Shakoor has been fined 13 times in the past for speeding by Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP).

The police said the vehicle — a black Toyota Hilux Revo — bearing registration number ARY-77 frequently violated speed limits in the capital.

The driver of the vehicle was a habitual violator of speed limits as it violated traffic rules 13 times since January 1, 2023, they added.

The Hilux was caught 13 times through CCTVs of the Safe City installed at different roads and in this regard separate e-challans were issued against registration number of the vehicle.

The first e-challan was issued on Jan 5, 2023 over exceeding the prescribed

speed limit, followed by Jan 10, 11, 18, 19 and 22, they said, adding that in February, three e-challans were issued to the vehicle driver.

Likewise, the vehicle was caught thrice in the month of March, the police said, adding that another e-challan was issued against the vehicle’s registration number over the same violation on April 13.

Each challan was worth Rs200 and the name of the violator mentioned on the e-challan was a bank, they added.

At the time of the accident, the driver of the Hilux drove it over 100 kilometres per hour at Constitution Avenue despite the speed limit set at 80-kms per hour.

The vehicle was bought on a lease by the owner of a poultry business operating from south Punjab, from a bank, the police said, adding that the owner of the poultry business was a close relative of the leader.

At the time of the incident, employees of the poultry business were riding in the vehicle, they added.

It may be mentioned here that each driving licence has 10 points and after violations, these points are deducted from it.

There are separate points over violation of traffic rules including two over exceeding prescribed speed limits, a police officer told Dawn, adding that under such rules the vehicle earned 26 points and 26 points were deducted from the licence of the driver during a short period of four months.

According to the point system, driving licence may be suspended for a period of six months in case of deduction of five points on the driving licence within six months, the officer said, adding that in case of deduction of 10 points, a driving licence may be suspended for a period of one year.

However, no action was taken about this before, he said. Officials of Safe City also monitored traffic violations, including speed limits through CCTVs installed at roads, including High Security Zone at its Red Zone and Constitution Avenue.

In case of heinous violations, including over speeding and red light jumping, officials of Safe City immediately alerted staff on roads to intercept and stop such vehicles.

Another police officer said that earlier, former director general of Safe City Rommel Akram was all set to implement Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to put and watch habitual violators of traffic rules, but shortly after his transfer, the idea was shelved.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023