The daytime movement of heavy traffic vehicles has been banned in Karachi for two months, it emerged on Wednesday.

The development comes as the city has recently witnessed a steep increase in traffic accidents, with many resulting from collisions with heavy vehicles such as dumper trucks and water tankers.

A notification issued on Tuesday by the Karachi commissioner, a copy of which is available with Dawn, said that the deputy inspector general of the Karachi Traffic Police had requested the imposition of a ban on the movement of heavy transport vehicles during the daytime “in order to resolve the traffic congestion issues due to the influx of heavy vehicular traffic and to prevent road traffic accidents”.

The notification added that “in the interest of protecting human lives and ensuring the smooth flow of traffic”, there were sufficient grounds to proceed under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to regulate the movement of heavy traffic within the limits of the city.

As a result, the Karachi commissioner imposed a complete ban on dumper trucks carrying construction materials in all parts of the city, except between the hours of 10pm and 6am.

He also imposed a ban on the movement of heavy traffic within the city, except between 10pm and 6am. However, this excluded those carrying “essential commodities”, including water, edible oil, liquid nitrogen, meat, skin and medical gases classed as life-saving drugs.

A complete ban was also imposed on the movement of heavy traffic on Jinnah Avenue from Super Highway (M-9 Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway) near Saima Pari Classic and Rufi Global City up to Malir Halt, Sharea Faisal.

Three routes were also designated for heavy traffic, excluding dumper trucks carrying construction materials. These included the Super Highway (to New Karachi Industrial area via Slip Road and the National Highway (to Godown Chowrangi, Younas Chowrangi, Dawood Chowrangi).

The third route was through the Northern Bypass, through which vehicles can access Gulbai and Mauripur en route to Karachi Port.

An alternate route was also specified from Link Road Kathore till Sassi Toll Plaza.

“The movement of dumpers equipped with approved tracking devices (trackers), whose access data has been integrated with the Karachi Traffic Police monitoring system, is exempted from the restriction timings within the industrial zones of Karachi,” the notification added.

It said the restrictions would remain in place for a period of two months, from Dec 23 to Feb 22, 2026.

This is not the first time a ban has been imposed on the movement of heavy vehicles in Karachi. In February, the provincial government placed a 60-day ban on heavy vehicle traffic in the city exempting certain nighttime hours. In April, this ban was extended for another two months.