BY RAO MUHAMMAD ARSLAN
Road traffic consists of road users including pedestrians, riding or herding animals, trucks, streetcars, buses and other means of transportation, whether individually or together, while using the public route for travel purposes.
As we talk of traffic in the garrison city, the traffic jams of Rawalpindi are beyond the traffic police’s capacity. Long queues of traffic can be seen in the morning hours and in the afternoon and heavy and light traffic crawls bumper-to-bumper, leaving ambulances and school vans stuck in the traffic.
It’s a sad story that densely-populated Rawalpindi City has only nine bus bays. The relevant authorities should therefore properly manage bus bays / bus stops. Public Service Vehicles are being parked on roads due to the lack of bus bays and proper PSV stands, which create a lot of inconvenience for the general public.
There is no parking in the city of Rawalpindi. Plaza-owners at the time of construction of buildings show plaza basements as a parking lot but they turn them into shops at a later stage. The civic authorities of the city of millions could not setup any proper parking lot, leaving general public too suffer.
Encroachment is another major hurdle in smooth flow of traffic. The shopkeepers place their articles outside shops in the city markets and also on footpaths that cause a nuisance for the residents.
As the city’s sewerage system is not well established, stagnant rainwater and sewage is a common sight in the city. Even the Committee Chock underpass is no exception.
The reason for this mess is that over the years there has been no traffic planning. The traffic congestion caused by the Sawan Bridge on G.T. Road has increased because of the poorly-designed roads and security checkpoints near Fauji Foundation hospital.
Beyond the Sawan Bridge, a large number of private schools have been set-up without taking into account traffic flow. The commuters blatantly violating traffic laws, and limited police force available there appears helpless. The relevant government departments have never bothered to conduct a scientific survey to ascertain traffic problems in the city.
Rawalpindi residents have been requesting the authorities to take steps to avoid traffic jam on city roads. With the growing population, the problem of traffic control in Rawalpindi has been becoming chronic.
Blatant violation of traffic rules and by ever increasing vehicles in the city has also increased the number of traffic accidents. Sadly, most of the drivers have little understanding of traffic rules and no regard for others’ lives.
At many important round junctions traffic wardens are found absent from duty points while half-hearted efforts are made by others to regulate traffic. The government must enforce strict laws and rules with heavy fines to resolve traffic hazards, increase road safety and ensure smooth traffic flow in congested areas as Raja Bazaar and Murree Road.
Maintaining smooth traffic flow, preventing accidents, assisting road-users in distress, ensuring rule of law through equal application, achieving the goal of zero tolerance with firmness is demand of the hour.
Also Read: Face, body and her
(The writer is a student of National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad)
