especially for the holy month of Ramazan, the objective of which was to ensure the smooth flow of traffic particularly before iftar time. It declared that traffic wardens would assist traffic police at busy intersections and jammed roads, and that street hawkers and food stalls would be removed from such streets to prevent gridlocks.
Talking to The News, assistant sub-inspector Mohammad Mumtaz of the traffic police, said during Ramazan he and his team arrived earlier in the morning to their positions at II Chundrigar Road than they normally did, so that the public could reach their workplaces on time. And as offices are off at a quarter past two in the middle of the day, Mumtaz and his team are already active 40 minutes earlier, all to ensure a smooth flow of traffic.
According to Mumtaz, the primary issue is the public’s disregard for traffic rules and regulations. A change in the public’s mindset is the key, he maintained.
“Dunya chaand pe pohanch gayi aur humaray log abhe tak danda aur rassi se chal rahay hain (The world has reached the moon and our people still require sticks and ropes to function),” he remarked.
“Even the tape barricades police use to separate traffic lanes are burnt by drivers’ cigarettes or altogether stolen for towing purposes.”
While the ASI has made a fair point, one cannot ignore the ineptitude of government institutions in providing the public with a proper working traffic system.
Traffic signals are all but functional and roads are erratic as though made to actively remind the public of government inactivity.
Driving in this city is equivalent to manoeuvring through an obstacle course if one were to ponder on the subject; a noisy, smelly, exasperating, and locomotive obstacle course. We as citizens deserve better. Period!
That said, we drivers and pedestrians must own up to ourselves and realise that our indifference towards traffic regulations only serves to maintain the very irksome issues we all despise.
Let us all brake more like my dad advises perpetually, stop defacing traffic signs with nauseating looking paan stains, and consume our sharbat indoors!