LAHORE: The fatality rate in one-wheelie-related accidents has considerably dropped in the provincial capital after the Lahore police adopted a ‘novel’ approach to do away with the menace.

For the first time, the police identified 1,617 ‘notorious’ motorbike mechanics and 952 habitual wheelie-doers of the city, visited their residences, held meetings with their parents and obtained from them surety bonds to stop them from the risky sport.

It took the police months to complete the exhausting task of engaging hundreds of families.

The police identified workshops which used to make alteration in bikes to drive them on front wheel while maintaining a speed of over 80 km per hour. Most of them were operating in McLeod Road, Naulakha, Rajgarh, Garhi Shahu, Saddar, Islampura, Icchra, Walton Road, etc.

Police get surety bonds from parents of wheelie-doers; act against mechanics who alter bikes

Several groups of wheelie-doers were playing dangerous stunts on the roads, risking lives of others too.

A senior police officer said a ‘top’ wheelie-doer of the city known as “Ustad Butt” used to perform stunts while carrying his two-year-old son.

He said the deaths due to the one-wheelie accidents had become a permanent feature of the annual festivals including Chand Raats, Eid days, Independence Day and New Year celebration.

For the last few years, the fatality rate of the young citizens in the zigzag driving, speeding and other bike-related accidents was recorded nearly 2pc during the annual festivals and on every weekend in Lahore.

Lahore police Operations DIG Sohail Chaudhry and City Traffic Officer Muntazir Mehdi put their heads together to address the issue, worked on various options/proposals and implemented them to bring about a permanent solution.

They assigned various tasks to the divisional SPs of the city to play an effective and decisive role in this regard.

A report of the Lahore police based on the data obtained from the accident and emergency departments of public sector hospitals of the city and from Rescue 1122 suggested that this mortality rate of one-wheeling has now dropped to below 1pc.

“For the first time not a single [wheelie-doer] death was reported during the Eidul Azha,” Lahore Operations DIG retired Capt Sohail Chaudhry told Dawn,

Even no rally of one-wheelers was reported in any part of the city, he said adding that the reason was that Lahore police acted in a different way to curb the menace on a permanent basis.

“With the efforts of divisional SPs, we identified 1,617 motorbike mechanics and 952 one-wheelers of the city”, he said adding that the police teams raided and tightened noose around them.

He said the police approached the elders of the mechanics and the one-wheelers, held meetings and obtained from them surety bonds that they would discontinue the illegal practice.

They were given an ultimate warning that the police would lodge cases against the elders of the children if they were found involved in the risky activity.

Of the total 925 one-wheelers, he said, 225 were living in City division, 216 in Saddar, 1,182 in Cantt, 150 in Civil Lines, 64 in Iqbal Town and 115 in Model Town divisions, the DIG said.

Similarly, 229 motorbike workshops were pointed out in Civil Lines division, 366 in Cantt, 258 in Civil Lines, 298 in Saddar, 165 in Iqbal Town, and 301 in Model Town divisions.

Lahore CTO Muntazir Mehdi said with the efforts of the police, the overall everyday motorbike fatality rate has dropped to below 1pc in the city.

Quoting some reports, he said, most motorbike-related fatal accidents and deaths were occurring at midnight starting from 11:30pm to 5am daily.

One of the major reasons was that the traffic wardens, safe city authority and Tepa used to close down traffic signals at that time.

“We held meetings with all of them and decided that the traffic signals would be kept operational at midnight,” he said.

The months-long practice has brought about a considerable relief as the recent reports unveiled that the bike-related mortality dropped and this was also confirmed by the medical superintendents of the government hospitals of Lahore when the traffic police visited them and obtained data, the Lahore CTO said.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2022