Main Boulevard buckling under school rush

By Anjum Gill

LAHORE: Whether civic sense is a blessing or a virtue, it certainly reflects the characteristic of a responsible nation. However, educated people in Pakistan continue to mock rules – a blatant example being the Main Boulevard in Gulberg, where parents coming to pick up their children park cars in the middle of the road and end up blocking heavy traffic.

Earlier, parents queued cars in a side lane to pick up children from a school on the main boulevard. Now, instead, they simply leave their cars on the main boulevard, forming up to three lanes that choke the entire road.

Yesterday, a Rescue 1122 ambulance got stuck in the school rush, and was only able to cut through fifteen minutes later after hectic efforts by a traffic policeman. Not one driver bothered to return to their car and move it.

Shujja ud Din, a multinational employee who had double-parked his car said, “I come to pick my son up during my lunch break. I have to reach back in time. So I park my car on the road since it’s faster.”

Replying to a question he said, “Most of the time I’m unable to reach back on time because the police has not made any arrangements to ensure traffic flow,” while accepting responsibility for his incorrect parking.

Another parent blamed the people who had designed Kalma Chowk. “This is not meant for our country. All it does is choke traffic. If they had left the square as it was earlier, traffic would have been better.”

When asked, “Would it not be better if you obeyed traffic rules,” he said, “If I obey traffic rules, I would be delayed even more. I have other things to do as well.”

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