KARACHI: The driver of the runaway dumper who fled after hitting a vehicle on the city's Sharea Faisal has been arrested after he surrendered before the authorities.
The arrest comes two days after a video went viral showing a traffic police vehicle attempting to stop a dumper travelling on Sharea Faisal.
However, the dumper driver fled by hitting the vehicle at high speed which essentially put the lives of several other commuters at risk.
Prior to his arrest, the Karachi Traffic Police carried out a massive crackdown against dumpers, during which 27 dumpers were seized and one dumper driver was arrested. Challans and heavy fines were issued to 142 dumper drivers under sections 99/113 of the 1965 Motor Vehicles Ordinance.
The traffic police had contacted the president of the Dumper Association, Liaquat Mehsud, and others to arrest the dumper driver who was running away from the traffic police on Sharea Faisal. At first, they asked for time, but then backtracked on their promise and failed to hand over the dumper and its driver before the police.
The traffic police then launched a massive crackdown against the dumpers announcing that the action would continue until the dumper driver was handed over.
Meanwhile, in his initial statement, the arrested dumper driver claimed that he was being followed by motorcyclists and had only resorted to fleeing in that manner due to fear that his vehicle might be set ablaze.
The development is to be taken in the context of over 250 fatalities due to traffic accidents in the metropolis in the ongoing year — of which at least 70 were attributed to incidents involving heavy vehicles such as dumpers, water tankers and trailers.
The alarming rise in fatalities sparked widespread public outrage and protests with the public even resorting to setting such heavy vehicles on fire.
Such an incident occurred last week where enraged citizens set fire to several dumper trucks at different locations after a speeding dumper truck crushed two motorbikes in the North Karachi area.
The public sentiments, owing to traffic rampage in recent months, seem to be highly polarised as they are not only directed at heavy vehicles but towards any vehicle or driver involved in reckless driving.
On Sunday, a mob set ablaze a vehicle involved in an accident in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area near Disco Bakery which resulted in one fatality.
The police later took the driver and the three people with him into custody and further detained multiple people for setting the car on fire.
The alarming traffic situation coupled with the public outrage has led to the Sindh government imposing a day-time ban on the movement of heavy vehicles in Karachi coupled with stringent measures such as a 30 kilometres per hour speed limit for heavy transport vehicles (HTVs) operating in the city.
However, it seems that despite the ongoing crackdown coupled with strict traffic rules, some citizens remain unaffected and continue to indulge in reckless driving.
Such an incident occurred at Karachi's Sea View where a vehicle overturned and floated into the seaon Sunday morning, The News reported.
The incident took place in the early hours near Sea View, Darakhshan, where a white car, reportedly involved in drifting at a high speed, got out of control and flipped, eventually entering the sea.
No casualties were reported and Rescue 1122 teams retrieved the vehicle from the water. Whereas, according to Darakhshan SHO Shahid Tajthe car owner has been summoned to the police station for further investigation.