Daily Times

Justice Ali Akbar Qureshi of Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the Inspector General of Punjab police (IGP) to strictly implement restriction of wearing helmets by motorcyclists in the whole province.

The judge directed the IG to strictly implement traffic laws in the whole of Punjab without any discrimination and submit a compliance report within a week.

Earlier the judge had ordered strict implementation of traffic laws in Lahore.

The judge was hearing a petition of Advocate Syed Kamal Haider seeking the enforcement of traffic laws throughout Punjab.

The petitioner submitted that a report by World Health Organisation (WHO) disclosed that in Pakistan, 25.3 deaths per 100,000 occur due to road accidents, which was much higher than international rankings. He submitted that according to the WHO fact sheet of 2011, more than 90 percent world mortalities on roads occur in low and middle income countries.

The judge requested to order the police to implement all traffic laws including wearing of helmets by motorcyclists in Punjab. He also said that the government should be directed to fix prices of helmets so that the profiteers could not extort money from the public.

He further instructed that Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority should launch an awareness campaign on mainstream and social media about traffic laws among citizens.

Published in Daily Times, October 24^th 2018.