LAHORE, June 12: The traffic police in the provincial metropolis are making money for the government and unscrupulous among them for themselves without any fear these days.

Sturdy constables can be seen regulating traffic at the main crossings with sergeants (in-charge of them) standing on one side of the road.

Many of the victims are innocent motorists, who are caught for no fault of theirs. As soon as they are stopped, they start begging for pardon for lacking courage to throw the gauntlet to police.

There is no mercy even for those motorists, who violate law unintentionally, like stopping their vehicles on the zebra crossings or on the line dividing lanes in case of sudden change of signal. Those caught in the middle of the crossings during the change of the signal from green to red are stopped, but those who have some influence are allowed to go.

The owners of the vehicles that do not have prescribed number plates or have broken or faulty lights and indicators are also among the victims. Quite a good number of people prefers to show documents without much haggling to get fine tickets to save time. However, a majority of those are facilitated by paying "on-the-spot fines."

The 'private justice' through these fines intensifies in the evening probably because of lack of supervision by the superiors.

A number of payers of such a fine are ignorant of rules. For example, unwary motorcyclists carrying some goods are asked to pay because they are not riding a transport vehicle.

Taking a turn to left when the signal is red is not allowed on the main roads. But it is also being considered a crime on side roads without fixing any board to indicate it.

Policemen normally out of sight suddenly rush to the middle of the road to intercept the vehicle and catch the driver by surprise.