It’s a regular weekday. As soon as their classes are over, hordes of first- and second-year students emerge from a private college on the canal bank road, riding their motorbikes. The traffic on the road outside is clogged for the next hour or so.

Most of these riders are seen sporting helmets, courtesy of the city traffic police’s rigorous drive against non-helmeted motorcyclists, but it’s not hard to tell that many of them are underage drivers. The authorities must do something about it, too.

Last week, a road accident in DHA, Lahore, in which a teenage driver killed a family of six, brought focus back to this serious issue. While this is a developing story and investigations are still going on, the city traffic police have already launched a crackdown against underage motorcyclists and unlicensed drivers. At various traffic signals on city roads, you now see traffic wardens engaging with young motorcyclists.

“My friends were detained briefly, because they were driving [motorbikes] without a licence,” says Muhammad Talha, a resident of Mughalpura.

Talha, who is an ICom student at a college on Canal Road, says he will turn 18 next year, which is when he’ll be eligible for a driving licence. So far he’s managed to dodge the traffic wardens on the roads: “We’ve to be careful and don’t want to be spotted [by the cops]. For this, we sometimes drive in service lanes or rugged paths to get home.”

But today, Talha is “not willing to take the risk. I’ll have to give up on my bike for now, and commute by public transport.”

“The campaign is not solely against underage driving,” says a traffic warden, who introduces himself as Faisal, in Gulberg. “We are also checking licences of motorcyclists.”

Meanwhile, the DHA accident case continues to grab headlines across media platforms. Because of the seriousness of the incident and the ensuing public pressure murder and terror-related sections have been added to the first information report of the case. At the time of the filing of this story, the suspect had been handed over to the police by an anti-terrorism court for five days.

His family claims that he is younger than 17; and the court has ordered a test to determine his age.

According to the data provided by the CTO’s office, 3,689 cases of underage driving and 2,141 cases of driving without a licence were registered in different police stations of the city between November 12 and 22.

The incident occurred at a roundabout in DHA, where the car he was driving allegedly rammed into another vehicle he had been chasing. Six people, including a four-month-old and four-year-old, died on the spot. Soon afterwards, the police took him into custody and impounded the car.

“The suspect hit the car at a 90-degree angle,” says Captain Mustansar Feroze (retired) the Lahore CTO.

Feroze agrees that the incident propelled the department to take action. During a recent court hearing, he is reported to have revealed that 7.3 million vehicles were registered in the Lahore city, but only 1.3 million people had valid licences. The idea of such a huge number of unlicensed drivers on the streets prompted the court to issue a strict order for law-enforcement agencies to intervene.

According to the data provided by the CTO’s office, 3,689 cases of underage driving and 2,141 cases of driving without a licence were registered in different police stations of the city between November 12 and 22.

The police stations are teeming with visitors, most of them worried parents whose children have been detained. “My brother will be out of lockup soon once his bail plea is accepted, but his career is tainted forever,” says IA*, at the Icchra police station. His brother was arrested for driving without a licence.

“We never thought that driving a bike without licence was such a grave offence,” he adds.

It’s not just motorbikes. The city traffic police are also targeting unlicensed car drivers. In this regard, 931 cases have been registered.

Captain Feroze rejects the suggestion that the action against unlicensed and underage drivers is going too far. The campaign has resulted in a large influx of citizens at different driving licence centres in the city. “We have issued more than 19,000 learner’s permits in three days,” he adds. “This speaks volumes for the success of the campaign. This will ultimately prevent accidents and protect lives.

“The campaign will continue for as long as vehicles are plying on city roads,” he declares.

*Name withheld to protect identity

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship