ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Traffic Police’s (ITP) Double Helmet campaign to create awareness among pillion riders regarding road safety seems to have fallen on deaf ears since it was still struggling to enforce primary traffic rules in letter and spirit.
An official from the ITP Education Wing Rana Ishtiaq said, “The public-private venture was planned to conclude on October 11, and the authority would be issuing tickets to pillion riders without helmet henceforth.”
He said the police cannot compromise on road safety for the public and the awareness campaign was a formality to ensure that our message reached every individual, especially traffic rules violators, before initiation of any official action.
Replying to a query regarding women pillion riders, Ishtiaq said that, “The law does not differentiate between women and men when it comes to abiding by the traffic rules.”
A traffic sergeant, deputed at Serena Hotel roundabout and requesting anonymity, termed the ongoing ITP initiative as useless by saying that there were many grey areas that needed to be addressed on priority basis before such initiatives could be implemented with full force.
He said that the traffic police were overburdened due to the unavailability of additional personnel. He also said that, “We have to accommodate VIP movements and traffic jams in the 16 hours of duty that we have to fulfil each day, which leaves little space for issuing tickets to all traffic violators.” Urging for more recruitments in the capital traffic police, the sergeant said that the current number of police officers was inadequate to effectively check traffic violations on city roads which also prevented them from establishing the traffic police’s writ.
Another traffic sergeant Iftikhar Ahmed stressed that only public participation in these traffic campaigns could greatly assist the traffic police to efficiently manage vehicular traffic in the capital city. He regretted the fact that a vast majority of accidents that claimed the lives of people on the roads, mostly involved motorcyclists.
On the other hand, a resident of Aabpara, named Shahbaz, appreciated the efforts of the traffic police regarding launching the road safety campaign and said that it was unfortunate that road users were reluctant to adopt traffic safety rules which was only meant for their own good.
