The Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) has not been so successful in enforcing the point system introduced by them in 2009 for checking traffic violations under which driving licences can be suspended after 20 violations.
“Although traffic police have introduced some new projects over the last few years, they could not implement them due to which traffic violations are increasing in the city,” an official told Pakistan Today. The ITP introduced the point system in 2009 as per 11th schedule of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965. The ITP was the first licensing authority among 110 districts which introduced this system.
Under the system, the licence-holder keeps the record of traffic violations and his or her driving licence is suspended after 20 traffic violations. “It was also decided that once the licence of a driver was suspended, he would not be allowed to come on the road for one year and if he committed violations again, his driver licence would be cancelled once and for all. Under the system licences of motorists/motorcyclists would be marked with a point every time they were ticketed and this marking would continue till the 20th violation.
The official said ITP had also launched an awareness campaign after introducing the system. He said the ITP had also not so far implemented its standard operating procedures (SOP) devised for motorists moving in the city, under which motorists must have a CNIC, valid driving licence and vehicle documents before coming on the road. According to the SOPs, vehicles would require registration in the name of their current possessors.
Under the SOPs, the driver, not the owner of a vehicle, will have to keep its registration book, his/her CNIC and an attested copy of the vehicle owner’s CNIC. “The driver will also be required to show an authority letter from the vehicle’s owner issued to him,” he said. He said taxi drivers and public transport drivers will have to display public service vehicle (PSV) licences and stickers.
In case a cabby doesn’t own his vehicle, he will have to carry with him the vehicle’s registration book, a CNIC, an attested copy of his employer’s CNIC and an authority letter.
