ISLAMABAD: Road accidents are claiming unprecedentedly more lives than theterrorist incidents in the country annually, touching the figure of 15,000amid calls for serious attention by the authorities concerned for practicalremedial steps in this regard.
On average, some 1,716 people lose their lives at the hands of terroristsper year, National Highways and Motorways Police (NH&MP) SeniorSuperintendent Jamil Hashmi revealed while sharing the official data.
Elaborating the report, he said terrorism has claimed some 29,179 lives sofar in the country since 2001, which include 22,239 civilians and 6,940military personnel. Regretting loss of plenty of lives in the roadaccidents, he stressed for launching a countrywide awareness campaign onroad safety by involving all stakeholders. “It is one and only practicaland result-oriented solution to curtail human casualties at such a hugescale in road accidents,” he said. “As Pakistan is investing a huge amountto upgrade its road network under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor(CPEC), which is a harbinger of developed road infrastructure in thecountry, there is also need to boost road safety standards,” he stressed.
The top police official said it is state’s responsibility to allocate andprovide monetary and technical resources to educate motorists and otherroad users to ensure maximum safety during travelling. He said theinvolvement of different segments of community will help change behaviourson the road. Youth’s inclusion in such activities is a must as they aremore attracted towards road misadventures and reckless driving, he added.
Hashmi emphasized upon parents and teachers to play sue role in changingthis mindset in the greater public interest. “Ninety percent of theaccidents in Pakistan occur due to driver’s mistake while poor roads andvehicle are responsible for only five percent of the mishaps,” he added.
Highlighting the efforts of NH&MP for reducing accidents on motorways, hesaid mobile education units of the force are not only conducting awarenesssessions in educational institutions and industries but also sensitisingroad users at different bus terminals and toll plazas through multimediapresentations and informative hand-lets.
Responding to a question, he said there is a need to review the structureof fines which has seen no change since 1998. He also recommended westernstyle penalties like cancellation of the license of habitual violators. He,however, urged the authorities concerned to recruit more personnel andincrease the numbers of trauma centers along the motorways for betterhandling of major accidents on motorways.
He emphasized on acquiring modern technologies and provision of requiredequipment to the police department for capacity building of officials.
Appreciating the administrative retreat meeting recently arranged byMinistry of Communications for the first time in history to analyzedepartment’s performance and overcome the existing shortcoming andweaknesses, he stressed the need to hold such meetings twice a year.