This refers to the article, ‘Start with the minor irritants’ (February 13) by Shahid Mehmood. The article reminded me of another country I worked in decades back.
After seeing the spate of serious accidents, especially on weekends, and finding the nominal fine an insufficient deterrent, the police there decided to get tough with traffic rules violators. Anyone found violating the rules was taken to the police station to pay the fine. However, when the person took out money to pay the fine, they were told, “Sorry sir, our cashier works from Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 only and he has already left. So, you just have to stay with us until tomorrow morning when you can pay the fine and leave.” It was worse on weekends with long unscheduled stays at police stations. The good thing was that the number of accidents, deaths and injuries dropped substantially.
S R H Hashmi
Karachi