KOHAT: The president of the old bus stand here has resented the steep hike in fines for traffic rules’ violations by the police, saying the transporters were already in distress due to record inflation.

Talking to Dawn on phone, Saleem Khan pointed out that fines on overloaded public transport vehicles now ranged between Rs10,000 and Rs30,000.

He said that if a driver was fined Rs15,000 once a month he wasn’t able to recover the amount from fare. He asked the contractors of other bus stands to also raise strong voice against such heavy fines.

Similarly, he said fines for over-speeding by commercial vehicles was now Rs10,000, and route permit violation stood at Rs5,000. He said under-aged driving invited a fine ranging from Rs1,000 to Rs10,000, and over-speeding by motorcyclists attracted Rs1,500 fine, and cars Rs2,500.

Saleem Khan said the traffic police imposed fine ranging between Rs500 and Rs5,000 for one-wheeling. He said the recklessly-driven commercial vehicles were fined Rs10,000, and cars and motorcycles Rs5,000.

District police officer Umer Khan, in a notification issued recently, announced the fresh fines to force the drivers to observe traffic rules.

These fines are effective from July 1, 2024.

Umer Khan has directed the chief traffic in-charge and ticketing officers to visit all the bus stands and inform the local and inter-district transport drivers about the new penalties.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2024