Federal govt seeks Unified Traffic System

Islamabad : The federal government is trying to introduce a Unified Traffic System across the country to facilitate motorists and ensure their better safety on the roads. According to the details, the federal government has approached the relevant provincial departments and shared three proposals with them to launch a Unified Traffic System all over the country. The proposals included centralized driving licenses, commercial vehicle fitness assessment, and data sharing about driving licenses and traffic. The federal government has asked the provincial authorities to provide their input on all these proposals as soon as possible so that they can move forward to translate it into reality.

The details showed that the federal authorities thoroughly reviewed traffic systems adopted by foreign countries and then came to the conclusion that Pakistan should also have such kind of traffic system that can help remove complications, facilitate motorists and reduce road accidents. The data provided by the federal Ministry of Communications showed that road trauma significantly impacts on the national economy. The cost of road traffic crashes is around 3 percent of GDP in Pakistan. The annual loss to the national economy has increased up to 9 billion dollars. The National Transport Policy 2018 outlines the urban and rural road safety challenges that will result from the projected increases in population, vehicles, and passenger and freight movements in the coming decades. An official has said "The 18th Amendment enacted the devolution of responsibilities to the provinces. Individual province and territory governments have direct responsibility for most areas of road safety regulation and management. So we have sought their coordination to introduce the Unified Traffic System in Pakistan." "The federal and provincial repr­es­entatives have held a meeting and discussed the issue of the Unified Traffic System. We will sort out modalities and develop a consensus to introduce it in the coming years," he said.