Fact-check: True. Traffic fines on motorways hiked by over 200% from October

A screenshot of a purported notification has sparked claims online that the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) has raised traffic penalties by over 200% across motorways and highways in Pakistan.

The claim is true.

Claim

On September 19, one user on Facebook said: “Those travelling on the motorways beware. The amount of challans [traffic violation tickets] have increased.”

The user further added that violations for which earlier a person had to pay Rs750 has now been hiked to Rs2,500.

Attached with the post was the screenshot of a notification which provided a breakdown of the old and new fines to be imposed for speeding and other traffic violations.

The post has been shared 88 times and liked over 100 times to date.

Other users shared the same image on Facebook here.

Similar claims took off on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter, as well here, here and here.

Fact

Steep fines for traffic violations have indeed been rolled out from October 1, confirm officials of the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP), the traffic and transport rule enforcement agency in the country.

Umair Saddozai, the public relations officer for the chairman of the National Highway Authority, said the information was correct and heft fines will be imposed soon. However, he added that the notification was leaked on social media before the authority released it officially.

Meanwhile, Yasir Mehmood, the spokesperson of the NHMP, also confirmed that the penalties have come into force.

“In the first phase, it [the fines] will be implemented on cars, jeeps and SUVs,” he said, adding that the fine can later be extended to include public service vehicles as well.

Mehmood also shared the revised fines for each violation.

With additional reporting by Fayyaz Hussain.

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