Right Angle – Written by Nadeem Ahmed Advocate – E-Challan Arrived, Will Death Be Able to Stop?
Karachi… The city that was once known as the center of lights, today stands on the roads with the shadow of death. From January to October 2025, in just Ten Months, 720 citizens lost their lives in traffic accidents and more than 10,000 were injured,
After 771 deaths last year, these figures have now become an alarm bell. Every day, an average of two citizens leave home but do not return — because Karachi’s Roads are no longer life, but have started giving accidents.
The poorest segment of the population is paying the highest price for these accidents who travel on motorcycles or Rickshaws. Without helmets, in the race for speed, they RISK their lives.
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Rickshaw drivers take five passengers instead of three, and often their vehicles are technically defective. Breaking the signal, taking the wrong side, driving on the wrong side or talking on a mobile phone while driving are now commonplace. The result — a moment’s mistake, and life is lost.
The situation with heavy vehicles is no less dangerous. Trucks, trailers, water tankers and dumpers ply day and night in the city’s residential areas. In several accidents, these vehicles have crushed small motorcycles and rickshaws.
Drivers are often untrained, sleep deprived, and sometimes drive while intoxicated. But the law is silent — and the government’s response is often limited to formalities after an accident.
The city’s roads themselves are also a major cause of accidents. Broken sidewalks, bad signals, missing lane markings, and no facilities for pedestrian crossing. Ambulances get stuck in traffic during emergencies. After an accident, paperwork starts instead of justice.
It seems that speed, not humanity, reigns on Karachi’s roads. Now the Sindh Government has taken a New Step — the “E-challan System”.
This system automatically records traffic violations through modern cameras in the city and sends challans to the driver’s home. In the first phase, hundreds of modern cameras have been installed at various locations in Karachi that record speeding, signal violations, and lane violations.
If this system is implemented with complete transparency and rigor, experts say that traffic accidents can be reduced by “At Least 25 to 30 Percent”. The reason is that the driver will realize that violations can no longer be hidden. Neither bribes nor recommendations — the camera captures everything.
E-challan will also reduce the pressure on the police, because now the system will decide automatically. However, this system will be successful only if the government adopts it as a real reform, not just a show-off project.
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A change in the attitude of citizens is also necessary. If a motorcyclist does not wear a helmet, or a rickshaw driver puts his life and the lives of others at risk, then no e-challan can save lives. Real change will come when the government, the police, and the public — all three — fulfill their responsibilities.
Karachi needs not just new laws, but a new mindset — that the road is not a place to speed, but a place to keep life safe. Only when this mindset changes can Karachi’s roads become a journey of life, not a path of death.
