Karachi:Â Over the past year, the Karachi traffic police have collected a staggering Rs1.2 billion in fines from more than two million motorists for various traffic violations, according to official data. This hefty sum, equivalent to around Rs3.5 million per day, has sparked debate about the role of traffic enforcement in the city.
From July 2023 to July 2024, traffic police issued over 2 million tickets, with fines amounting to Rs1,294,886,450. Of this, Rs1.19 billion has already been paid by violators, while fines totaling over Rs100 million remain outstanding.
This year alone, from January to July, nearly one million challans were issued, generating Rs699.8 million in fines.
The financial breakdown reveals that 30 percent of the collected fines are earmarked for the traffic police, while the remaining 70 percent goes to the provincial government. This means the traffic police could receive a share of approximately Rs360 million.
District East leads the city in fines, with over Rs240 million collected from 357,374 tickets, followed by District West and District Malir with Rs224.7 million and Rs207.6 million, respectively. Despite the large sums collected, District Malir also has the highest number of pending fines, totaling over Rs20.6 million.
The enforcement of traffic rules remains a contentious issue, with critics arguing that the current approach may be more focused on revenue generation than on improving road safety. The traffic police, however, maintain that their primary focus is on addressing serious violations, such as wrong-way driving and the use of vehicles without number plates.
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