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ITP road safety measures: Cab drivers cheat police by using makeshift seatbelts

By Imran Naeem Ahmad

ISLAMABAD: Ever since the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) began issuing warning tickets to motorists not wearing seatbelts, the town’s many taxi drivers have been cheating on the cops by using belts that would serve no purpose in an accident.

With most of the cabs often in pretty bad shape, the cabbies have been trying to fool the police by using makeshift seatbelts that just dangle down their shoulders.

However, it are not only the taxi drivers doing so rather there are many people driving vehicles of older models who seem to be cheating not only the police but also themselves by wearing seatbelts that offer no protection.

One of the cabbies had tied the seatbelt to the cab’s pillar with the help of a wire hanger while at the other end it rested underneath a water bottle instead of it being inserted into the latch.

“We don’t need seatbelts at all because we do not drive fast,” said Aurangzeb Awan, a taxi driver pointing out that getting a new set of belts installed was expensive. “But then we also have to obey the law for we have to be on the road all the time,” he said.

The ITP on the other hand said Friday that come September 1, disobeying motorists would be fined Rs 300. “Vehicles not fitted with seatbelts are already being asked to have them installed,” a spokesman for the police told Daily Times.

He said, as many as 21,000 warning tickets had been issued so far since the start of the education campaign but made it clear that there would be no leniency from next month onward.

Generally the response to this ITP initiative that also involves fines for use of cell phones behind the wheel and driving on high beams at night, has been quite encouraging officials said.

More and more motorists have begun to buckle up with many of them thinking that fines for non-compliance were already being imposed. “Whatever the case might be, people have responded very positively,” the spokesman said.

It has been proven time and again that fastening a seatbelt properly save lives yet in the absence of any law previously, only a small percentage of motorists used them. Mostly people find buckling up an irritant.

“Wearing a seatbelt properly dramatically increases one’s chances of surviving an accident,” said the spokesman adding that new penalties would definitely help reduce accidents.

In many countries seatbelts have been mandatory for ages and the use of cell phones is strictly banned yet in Pakistan, in the absence of any such laws, motorists have rarely bothered.

The use of high-beam headlights is another common practice in Islamabad with many road users not aware how hazardous it is for the oncoming vehicles.

The high beams are more powerful headlights meant for use in areas where one needs more lighting, like mountain roads that are often without streetlights. But officials said that these lights were designed for use only when other cars were not around.

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