Punjab’s roads, reality and responsibility

Beyond legal frameworks and official statements lies the reality of Punjab’s roads, which are crowded, chaotic and unforgiving. On these roads, underage riders are not anomalies but part of daily traffic.

For many families, motorcycles are tools of mobility in cities where public transport is patchy and often unsafe.

Public transport systems across Punjab’s urban and peri‑urban areas have long struggled with capacity and reliability, pushing households to make pragmatic decisions about how children travel. The state’s new approach seeks to bring these practices under legal purview rather than continue to ignore them.

Vehicles are seen in a traffic jam on a road in Rawalpindi. ─ Reuters/File

But formal recognition does not erase the lived uncertainties of riders or families.

The crackdown exposed these underlying dynamics but did not resolve them. Parents who condemned arrests still hand over keys. Police officers who sympathise with families continue enforcing shifting directives. The state, caught between public backlash and enforcement imperatives, now proposes licences, but the underlying tensions remain.