ROAD ACCIDENTS AND PUBLIC SAFETY IN PAKISTAN
Written By : Sana Mehmood
Public
safety at a risk: the road safety has emerged as a global concern nowadays. The
World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that 1.35 million people die
annually in road traffic accidents worldwide and it will become the fifth 5thmajor
cause of death by the end of the year 2030. In Pakistan, about 30310 people or
every 20thpeople out of 100000 die road traffic accidents annually. Similarly,
the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), has founded that an average fifteen
(15) people die in road traffic accidents every day, and the driver’s
involvement in the accident is almost 75-90%, which showed the drivers behavior
towards the violation of the traffic rules and regulations is very higher in
Pakistan. The driver’s involvement or faults included over-speeding, wrong
overtaking, night driving, sleepiness driving, usage of drugs, careless
driving, and physically unfit vehicles etc.,
Globally
the road traffic accidents are the major cause of death, injuries and permanent
disability among the vulnerable road users, i.e. Pedestrian (26%) cyclist, and
motorcyclist (29%). Similarly, in Pakistan, the pedestrian (31%) and
motorcyclist (48%) respectively in all road traffic accidents.Furthermore, in
Pakistan, every five minutes someone is being killed or injured in road
accidents, which positions Pakistan at the 67th in the global
ranking for the higher percentage of Road Traffic Accidents (RTA). Most of the
drivers in Pakistan are uneducated, have limited knowledge, bad attitude and mal
practices towards the traffic rules and regulations while driving. The education
and awareness are the most significant factors, which have strong correlation
with the driver’s attitude, knowledge and practices towards the driving.In Pakistan
most of the drivers do not possess driving license (43%), and they are unaware
of the driving rules (58%) i.e., overtake from wrong side, ignores the traffic
lights, slow driving in the fast track line, ignore line making on highways,
and taking drugs while driving etc., which exhibited that they have limited
knowledge about traffic rules and regulations and their driving practices is
bad and attitude is more negative towards the traffic rules and regulations.
The
statistics from Pakistan, in the year 2010 found that 332 people lost their
lives, and 27264 were injured in less than a year due to careless driving, over
speeding, wrong overtaking, usage of drugs, and wrong U-turns in speed
highways. Although, this figure is not showing the real pictures of the road
traffic accidents records, because the rescue authorities are not reached at
the spot of accidents within an hour (49%).Pakistan Bureau of Statistics has
estimated that (43%) drivers were not possessing the driving licenseat the
accident spot. In Pakistan, there is not any proper mechanism of issuing
driving licenses, like other developed countries, especially aimed at the
public vehicle drivers. Whoever, having sources or reference in police or
administration, can be easily obtained a commercial or heavy traffic vehicle
driving license even without any physical and driving test.
The
violation of traffic laws become the most leading 5th cause of death by the end
of the year 2030, resulting in an estimated 2.4 million fatalities annually.
Likewise, the violation of traffic laws are the important reasons of disability
among poor drivers. It also caused the
loss of the economies in many countries. Particularly, in the developing
countries, where the economic cost is ranging from 1-3% of its total Gross National
Products (GDP). As, it was explained that, most traffic accidents occurred in
the developing or poor countries, where drivers are uneducated and lack of
awareness about the traffic rules and regulations. The road traffic accidents
suffered the poor people more, that they don’t have even alternative financial
means to bear the loss, rehabilitation or treatment cost, un-employment due to
disabilities and injuries. The situation is not different in Pakistan, where
drivers are violating traffic rules and regulation as the social norms, that
negatively affect public safety. In Pakistan, the fatality rate of road traffic
accidents is 25.3 per 100000. However, this data is not accurate because there
is not any systematic research on road safety and insufficient data is
available with the police and rescue department.
The writer is M-Phil Scholar,
Department of Sociology, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad and doing research
on Road Safety in Gilgit-Baltistan. Reached at sanamehmood@student.qau.edu.pk.
