LAHORE: Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has ordered designated lanes, called diamond lanes, for motorcycle riders on Lahore’s all major roads on the pattern of China, the country she visited recently.

During a meeting a few days ago, the CM shared the idea with some cabinet members and directed senior minister Maryam Aurangzeb to get it implemented to check rising number of fatal accidents.

An official said the CM told the minister that she had personally observed dedicated lanes for bikers during her visit to Nanjing and Zhanjiang.

He said the CM was of the view that head injuries to bikers was the leading factor behind deaths and life-long disabilities. She said since bikes were a major mode of transportation, riders must be provided safe and secure roads.

Pilot project to start from Ferozepur Road

“In Beijing, there are two lanes for bike riders and scooters, entirely separated from main expressways by wide sidewalks,” the CM reportedly observed.

Following the CM directions, the senior minister held meetings for the implementation of the scheme in Lahore.

The official said that the LDA DG and Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) of Lahore Athar Waheed jointly visited city’s major roads and decided to launch the project on roads having three lanes.

For this purpose, the CTO formed special teams of the city traffic police and asked them to coordinate with relevant departments, including LDA, TEPA, to prepare a feasibility report.

“We are working on the project to create separate lanes for the bikers on city’s leading arteries,” the CTO told Dawn on Thursday.

He said these lanes would be called ‘diamond lanes’ and the bike riders would be educated to use them.

He said other vehicles would not be allowed to use the bike-specific lanes and in case of violation they would have to pay heavy fines.

Initially, he said, the Ferozepur Road had been selected to launch the pilot project which would be expanded to other three-lane roads.

To a question, he said a major crackdown was ongoing against encroachments. “Presently, 13 teams of traffic police are in the field and many roads have been cleared with the coordination of LDA and other relevant departments.”

The CTO said cameras have been installed in vehicles of all the DSPs who were supervising the anti-encroachment activities.

“I have obtained access to the Safe City system to personally observe the encroachment drive and traffic congestion points in the city,” Mr Waheed said. The CTO further said he had asked the Lahore police high-ups to abandon the decades-old practice of setting up pickets on roads which caused inconvenience to motorists. The CTO said that he had launched multiple strategies to eliminate encroachments at any cost.

To another question about the `controversial’ decision of authorising the traffic police to arrest violators, he said only circle heads had been provided handcuffs to to arrest those who encroached roads. “These handcuffs will not be used against motorists.”

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2025