The National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) in Pakistan have recently announced plans to equip motorways M1, M2, M3, and M4 with Intelligent Transport System (ITS) technology. The implementation of this system will reportedly change the way in which challans, or traffic violation fines, are issued and enforced on Pakistan’s national highways and motorways.
One of the primary aims of the ITS is to reduce delays for commuters, and to identify vehicles that are speeding on the roads. This is set to be the NHMP’s major step towards modernizing the country’s traffic infrastructure.
The announcement of the agreement between the Motorway Police and the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) was made as the NHMP revealed plans to implement the ITS on Pakistan’s motorways, with the support of the National Highway Authority (NHA).
The installation of these systems is expected to eliminate delays for commuters on the motorways, as vehicles will not be stopped and charged for overspeeding. Instead, a challan will be automatically registered against the driver’s name.
This is similar to the system already in place on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway, where speed offenders pay their challan at the toll tax booth, located towards the end of the motorway.
However, the ITS systems that will be implemented on Pakistan’s motorways will not be able to send the challan to the driver’s registered address, as many vehicles in Pakistan are shared among family members, making it difficult to determine the recipient of the challan.
Once in place, the ITS systems will require users to pay their challan at the toll booth located at the end of the motorway.
In addition to reducing delays for commuters and improving traffic enforcement, the implementation of ITS technology is also expected to have other benefits. For example, the technology will enable real-time monitoring of traffic flow and provide valuable data for traffic planning and management.
Overall, the deployment of ITS technology on Pakistan’s motorways is a significant step towards modernizing the country’s traffic infrastructure. The system is expected to not only improve traffic flow and reduce delays for commuters but also make roads safer and more efficient for all users.
