120,000 vehicles causing traffic hazards

PESHAWAR—It takes hours for a commuter to travel from one place to another in Peshawar city especially on peak hours due to the fast surging number of vehicles. The city roads are literally shrinking due to the existence of 120,000 vehicles making it very difficult for the dwellers to move around. In the absence of traffic engineer in the provincial metropolis, people have to face acute problems when they are entangled in rush. The present strength of traffic police is 234, out of whom 117 are deployed in one shift which is not sufficient to control the heavy volume of the traffic in the entire city. Several drives against non-registered taxies and rickshaws initiated in the past and as a result a large number of vehicles were impounded. The traffic police imposed fine of Rs. 6.9 million for violation of traffic rules and deposited in the government’s exchequer during June 2007. Despite several initiatives taken by concerned authorities, no significant improvement was seen in this regard. A total of 1928 tape recorders and 1053 pressure horns were removed from the vehicles since September 2006 till this date and a fine of Rs.58496250 was deposited on 463161 challans.—Online