LHC orders challans of bikes without side mirrors

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the chief traffic officer (CTO) to start enforcing condition of wearing safety helmet on pillion riders from Dec 1 without any discrimination.

The court further directed the CTO to also issue challan tickets to motorcyclists having no side mirrors on their bikes. Earlier, Punjab Safe City Authority’s chief operating officer Akbar Nasir told the court that there had been a visible decline in violation of traffic signal following the start of E-challaning. He pointed out that around Rs30 million had been collected under the head of E-challaning.

CTO Liaqat Malik stated that traffic rules had been strictly implemented by the police. He said 324,000 motorcyclists had been issued challan tickets so far for not wearing helmets. He claimed that a number of motorcyclists remained unhurt during road accidents due to safety helmets.

The court expressed satisfaction over the performance of the traffic police and directed the CTO continue implementing the traffic laws in letter and spirit. The court ordered the officer to start issuing challans on violation of helmet by pillion riders as well from Dec 1.

Previously, the court had directed the Punjab inspector general of police to strictly implement restriction of wearing helmets in the whole province. Several lawyers had filed petitions for the implementation of traffic laws citing an increase in deaths of motorcyclists in road accidents.