Islamabad’s traffic boss on Thursday conceded that the addition of new avenues had led to a rise in tendency of speeding and called for an increase in fines for such violations.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zubair Hashmi told Daily Times that the current ticket amount of Rs 200 for speeding was not enough. “It does not deter motorists from indulging in over speeding, therefore I think the fine needs to be at least Rs 500,” he said.
He pointed out that it was up to the government to enhance the fines in this regard but thought that the installation of the Driver Feedback System along the 7th Avenue would help in making motorists slow down.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) is in the process of putting up these systems that flash the speed of on-coming vehicles in the fast lane. “This is ample warning for those going too fast to cut down their speed,” he said.
Although the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) regularly conducts speed checks along the 7th and 9th Avenues and elsewhere, still people tend to speed putting not only their lives in danger but also those of others.
However, statistics of the first five months of this year show that there have been fewer fatal and non-fatal accidents in Islamabad as compared to the same time-span last year.
From January to May 28, there were 25 fatal accidents, 10 less than last year with 26 people being killed. The reported deaths in 2007 were 40. Similarly, 33 non-fatal accidents occurred in the same period as compared to 42 in last year.
Hashmi admitted that with the current strength of staff and resources, policing was becoming difficult although the ITP was still doing its best. “We have asked for additional staff and resources to further improve our working,” he said.
The ITP wants induction of 545 additional staff, 150 motorbikes, cars and other resources but it remains unclear when these demands would be met. “These are some of the problems we are faced with,” he said, adding that the ITP recently purchased 50 wireless sets from it own funds.
Meanwhile, plans to make Zero Point Intersection signal-free has been finalised and would be implemented in about a week. “Following the success of such experiments elsewhere, we are now set to go ahead with this soon,” Hashmi said.
The ITP in recent months have made the once troublesome Dhokri, Aabpara and Pirwadhai intersections signal-free that now see a smooth flow of traffic. Hashmi also pointed to the Peshawar Mor intersection on 9th Avenue that was re-modelled by the ITP in collaboration with the Capital Development Authority (CDA).
That intersection brought together the two organisations between whom collaboration had been almost non-existent. “We are now working closely to sort out matters related to traffic engineering,” he said.
While road engineering has been on the ITP and CDA’s agendas, a new law that would make wearing a seat belt mandatory for motorists and ban the use of cell phone behind the wheel and driving on a high beam at night, still remains uncertain.
“Our summary is now with the law ministry and they are the ones who are going to nifty it, but I cannot say when,” Hashmi said pointing out that the ITP had proposed that such fines instead be put under the head of ‘others’ under section 480 of ticketing.