The present situation with regard to road accidents, poses a special challenge in Pakistan as beside poor healthcare system, which is unable to cope with the requirements needed to treat the persons injured in accidents, the authorities concerned as well as the people in general are least prepared to respond to this assault.
By Maria Khushk
Road accidents are a universal issue, as according to data collected through international studies, an estimated 10 million motor vehicle crashes are reported annually worldwide. This is the leading cause of death of people of all ages including adolescents and young adults. Nearly three quarters of deaths resulting from these crashes occur in developing countries. Pakistan is also one of the developing countries in South Asia where the road accidents have registered sharp increase with increased use of motor vehicles.
The road accidents not only put burden on healthcare facilities but also devastate the families. The deaths and injuries are being recognized as one of the important public health challenges.
The present situation with regard to road accidents, poses a special challenge in Pakistan as beside poor healthcare system, which is unable to cope with the requirements needed to treat the persons injured in accidents, the authorities concerned as well as the people in general are least prepared to respond to this assault.
According to the data compiled by Federal Bureau of Statistics, as many as 10779 road accidents were reported during the year 2018-19, of which 4879 accidents were fatal and 5901 were non-fatal. These accidents caused death of 5932 while 13219 people were injured.
The province-wise breakup of data shows that 972 accidents occurred in Sindh during the same year, of which 620 were fatal and 352 non-fatal which killed 725 people and injured 829. The data shows that the number of road accidents in Sindh was less as compared to other provinces but still it is a matter of great concern.
The major reasons for the accidents can be attributed to poor road engineering and deficient road structure, careless driving, lack of road safety awareness, inconsistent and improper law enforcement and unsafe means of pedestrian crossings.
According to my observation, in most of the cases the accidents occur due to the carelessness of drivers be it truck drivers, bus drivers or the drivers of cars and other vehicles. The truck drivers use to drink and drive, and sometimes they drink or use narcotics while driving. It causes many accidents leading them to death but in spite of this other drivers do not get any lesson from it.
They run the truck over on the wrong path or crash with the trees or collide with other vehicles. Similarly, if we examine, the bus drivers mostly overtake the cars and other vehicles and cause the accidents. They are least concerned with the results of rash driving that takes the life of many people. Even they do not have concern of their own family, as perhaps they believe their life is a trash box which has no meaning at all.
Furthermore, a few days back, we watched an unbelievable video which shocked us completely – a five-year boy drove a car by himself all alone for having an ice-cream!
We all have seen such cases wherein under-age boys use to ride a bike or car. If someone gets injured, the parents accuse the government holding it responsible but the question is why the parents allow their children to drive the bike or car? May I ask the parents who is responsible for it?
The dangerous vehicle on the earth is the bike. Teenagers habitually use a bike for one wheeling without helmet for enjoyment; they think, they’re playing but they do not think actually they are playing with their own life. Many young and older people do not like to wear helmet for safety, as they think it is old fashion. I’m an eyewitness to such kind of accident that occurred at Three Sword in Karachi where two bike riders slipped and one of them hit to the footpath. The blood was oozing from his head.
The performance of traffic police is also questionable. Of course, the duty of traffic cops is really tough, but the fact is that they are more concerned with extracting money from violators of traffic rules and allowing them to continue reckless driving rather than controlling the traffic. This happens not only in our cities but also on highways and motorways. The result is obvious – road crashes and loss of precious lives.
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