Daily Times

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has gained the reputation of an achiever. She is on the move to take up new ventures in public interest. The other day, she appeared in a police uniform to preside over a police women passing-out parade. Even though she invited criticism from those who are in the habit of criticising she looked good and a true police officer. Now here’s a police job for her backed by her official CM’s authority: organising the maddening traffic on the roads in the province.

The administration may realise that by negotiating the chaotic traffic on the roads, sober and senior drivers get a poor impression of the management. Traffic has become more dangerous with the huge increase in cars and motorcyclists on the roads. Previously, motorcyclists were called rudderless drones on the roads but now they are known as pungent wasps ready to sting other road users. By no means, have I wanted to undermine the motorcyclists but that’s what their behaviour is like.

Motorists and motorcyclists have no excuse to act roughshod on the roads and overtake one another by zigzagging. The roads in Lahore are wide with many underpasses. It’s simply a case of dereliction of duty by the traffic police staff that is usually busy talking on their mobile phones. Typically, traffic wardens stand in groups at various road junctions, gossiping on their cell phones. They even ignore serious offenders who violate the rules of one-way traffic and jeopardise the lives of disciplined motorists.

No chief executive of any province has ever shown interest in removing the bedlam that appears on our roads.

The wardens however become vigilant when informed about the VVIP movement. And if you see them acting with unusual alacrity, take it that some VVIP is about to pass. The term ‘route laga hai’ is a common feature, which means the commoners have been stopped from using the road for the VVIP and his entourage to pass uninterrupted. Were the VVIPs to face the traffic problems that the hoi polloi face, the traffic situation would have improved much earlier. Why not do away with all protocols on the roads?

To discipline the traffic on roads, erring drivers deserve to be fined heavily to realise how much violation of traffic rules costs. How ridiculous it is when you observe an educated motorist driving leisurely in the fast lane gossiping on his cell and denying others the right to overtake? Other drivers on the road have no choice but to overtake the blighter from the wrong side. Or someone driving ahead suddenly slows down to attend the call on his phone thus risking the lives of those driving behind him. With the extraordinary increase in vehicles of all kinds on the roads, the traffic police must take their duty seriously to control and organise the traffic.

Parking cars, wagons and motorcycles on turns of the roads is a normal behaviour of vehicle owners but in other countries, it’s punishable by a heavy fine. It obstructs the view of the drivers behind wanting to turn in the same direction. Another serious oversight is the lack of use of indicators by drivers of all types, which includes many so-called educated ones behind the wheels of expensive vehicles. Drivers of government vehicles carrying green registration plates consider themselves above the traffic rules.

To alleviate the traffic difficulties, the chief minister may appoint professional police officers to manage traffic and deliver results. Professionally regularising the traffic would entail removal of encroachments on the roads. Most of the small roads in the cities are encroached on by shop owners who illegally extend their shops by putting up sale stalls towards the roads.

Another nuisance most of us have to put up with is the use of pressure horns by truckers and bus drivers. There was a time when the traffic police checked such vehicles and if they found pressure horns installed, the same were confiscated. Even in upper-class residential societies honking is a common practice without realising that old or sick people might be resting in the neighbouring houses. Even for opening the main gate of the house, the Sahib’s driver would continue to honk.

Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz may take the initiative by running an advertisement campaign on TV channels and in the newspapers to educate and sensitise the vehicle owners about their civic duties and the rights of other citizens on the roads. No chief executive of any province has ever shown interest in removing the bedlam that appears on our roads. CM Punjab will make history if she manages to make the road traffic safe, smooth and orderly.

The writer is a Lahore-based columnist and can be reached at pinecity@gmail.com