Woes of Islamabad Traffic Police

Posted on December 1, 2009
Filed Under >Deeda-e-Beena, Law & Justice
9 Comments
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Deeda-e-Beena

There goes another much touted institution – the pride of Islamabad. The letter T for Traffic regulation and smooth flow are disappearing with the replacement of their founder boss-T for Officer Taimuri. Initial M for its new boss and for collection of Money in Fines appears to be its credo now.

When the people started to observe speed limits, fine collection with a hefty % cut for ITP dwindled and the appearance of tracking cameras became infrequent. In any case, with the Steeple-chase style anti-terrorism barriers and check points mushrooming, who could be speeding any way? The Seat belts compliance discriminated against the Islamabad-ites who alone paid such fines. The all and sundry out-of-towners, including the invading MNAs, MPAs, countless Ministers of all hues and descriptions and the older model vehicles visiting the nation’s capital had never heard or seen a seat-belt and were wasting a lot of ITPs time away from their pursuit of the all important, money collecting tasks at hand. These outsiders were either conveniently ignored or were politely reprimanded.

Finding new and creative ways to make up for the collection – deficit had to be identified and they were. The latest practice is for the ITP officers in formidable numbers to raid some traffic signal or a corner and start catching drivers for some presumed traffic light and other obscure violations. Anyone who may be in the middle of a turn or a crossing even as Yellow light comes would pay a hefty fine. To top this, the speed limit posted along traffic signals at one Markaz is 25 km/hr OR 15 Mph. Hardly a couple of cars can move at this speed when the light changes and BINGO, the next driver is found in violation and pounced upon for fine collection. Islamabad’s Einsteins are at work!

The reverse side of the Traffic Violation Ticket under Schedule XII lists 71 Offences and indicates the Penalty for each one of them. The fact is that the I.T.P. has only focussed on the very first item namely: “Exceeding prescribed speed limit” with a penalty of Rs. 200/=. It is a well publicised fact that the I.T.P. is given a hefty percentage of the amount they collect, as a bonus. Violations of the other 70 are more dangerous and serious offences for traffic and are rampant. But, these violators are not important for ITP to apprehend.

If ITP likes to raise more revenue for itself, they should go after the other 70 offences it has painstakingly elaborated and identified as violations. There is much more revenue catching these other violators. In so doing they will also serve and benefit the cause of traffic – which is their raison d’être!

A proud and efficient traffic police would have Service as their motto. Some of its most important tasks would include: maintaining a smooth flow of traffic; safety of pedestrians – in particular the students, elderly and the disabled; keeping roads and sidewalks cleared of hazards and parked cars; ensuring that traffic signals are in synch and in working order; enforcing safe driving, turning and other regulations; monitoring safety of passengers in public transportation vehicles. The List of 71 Violations in ITP’s Schedule XII provides everything they need to do these jobs. Alas, they are unable to read beyond the first violation of speeding listed by them.

By doing their job in accordance with their own Charter they will also contribute to the overall safety and security situation in general. They are the ones who are present all over the place unlike the other regular law enforcers. They have also been well equipped with latest technology and provided ample transportation to ensure their mobility. They are polite and one would not expect otherwise from a worthy police officer. If they have claimed to be nation’s finest and are indeed also the best paid, their actions as an efficient force have to be matched by their claims.

Anyone who drives around Islamabad is bewildered at how the speed system is designed. There are scores of different, randomly posted speed limit signs (ranging from 25 – 80 kms/hour) witnessed in Islamabad. Adjacent or the same streets display multiple signs to confuse the motorists. Perhaps it is a trapping method for speeding violations! No regard is shown to: traffic needs and road size; the lack of synchronisation of lights and, blinking lights at some of the busiest cross roads; the absence of traffic police at the busiest traffic areas, while their overwhelming presence is lurking with cameras at the 60-80 kms/hr roads. The propensity for blocking street cut-outs without regard to the traffic needs and volume in their unquestioned desire to make the city “signal free;” and, the un-coordinated menace of terrorism related street blocking / barriers further complicates the flow of traffic.

The speed sign system by itself is confusing for drivers, hazardous for traffic and seems to serve the singular purpose of collecting fines. Look at the photo below, which is a small sampling of the plethora of signs in Islamabad.

The entire traffic system in Islamabad is now collapsing, despite a great network of some of the finest and widest roads available anywhere in the country, used by generally compliant and law-abiding residents. One is also intrigued by finding traffic signs and regulations posted in English language, given the very low level of literacy of the people in any language how can we expect compliance? Maybe the traffic police in general and particularly in Islamabad truly believe that all violators are English – proficient!

The new leadership of ITP has the opportunity to analytically review all aspects of their job at hand; including those pointed here and bring about necessary changes. That will make them a model of traffic regulation to be emulated by the rest of the country.

9 responses to “Woes of Islamabad Traffic Police”

  1. HarOON says:

    Love the picture of all the different speed limit signs… yes that is amazing all over Pakistan. Makes driving more difficult and eventually you just give up trying to follow the signs!

  2. Ad says:

    The ITP is solely concentrating on minting money through fines. They have no concern for people’s safety.

    Public transport drivers drive so rashly, putting people’s lives in danger. But ITP pays no attention to educate/restrict these drivers.

    Despite of all the tall claims people still get driving licenses from Islamabad through bribery.

    Last year i was in an accident. Despite numerous calls to the police, the ITP person came after an hour. And he too just looked and went away, without even bothering to come down and see the situation.

    ITP is just an eyewash with new uniforms. The people working in it are the same old corrupt and inefficient people.

  3. Gardezi says:

    Excellent points. In all the ‘big politics’ around us we can lose sense of the daily issues that everyone faces. And everyday law and order is certainly one of them,

  4. Omer says:

    It has occured to me twice that an ITP officer insited on giving a fine for crossing a RED light that I never did. I insisted that I am no hurry and I need a proof of what they are blaming. To my surprise they asked me to swear I did not break a red signal. . .

  5. Omer says:

    Agree with many things you say but to say the system is crumbling is an over statement.
    That yellow light violation i have faced a couple of times recently even when the timer says 2 seconds left before red to cross!
    The police walas usually look at the traffic light of the road to your left or right to your direction of travel and then based on the status of that light book you even though the lights have overlapping timings.

    Islamabad does need proper traffic engineering.
    U turns and random barriers on major roads, just so they can do away with traffic lights? How come they never planned these? There really is no traffic engineering authority which designs the roads keeping traffic in mind. The road engineering you see is done by the Traffic police and is adhoc depends on how they want to route traffic. The Flyover underpass interchange opened a while back at the Jinnah Avenue, Faisal Avenue intersection and then the police closed some access roads and slip lanes to manage the traffic. Hello! did you not think of that before? Same mess was made when they opened the 9th avenue.

    Sadly no formal traffic engineering, planning takes place here and top it off with horrible road leveling and quality, even new roads are bumpy and have a rough ride since the foundation is no good, thanks to the low cost local construction companies doing the work with i gues zero prior experience (eg. new Islamabad expressway and almost all other new roads in the capital including 7th and 9th avenues). No road lane markings and negligible maintenance complete the experience!

    Bonus: A unique traffic management feature in Islamabad (in few places):
    Traffic lights when green allow you to go straight AND take a right turn. This applies simultaneously to traffic coming from the opposite direction as well. So basically the traffic making a right turn always intersects the oncoming traffic going straight from the opposite direction. It is the drivers responsibility to avoid a head on collision! How brilliant is that planning…han han?!!!

    CDA needs to borrow TEPA expertise from Lahore, for at lease the roads they engineer in the city feel as if designed by someone who knows what they are doing!

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