Sir: The heart wrenching news of avoidable traffic accidents, especially those resulting in the loss of young schoolchildren, appears in the press frequently. It all boils down to two things: poor knowledge of traffic laws and no check on issuing driving licences.
The concerned authorities must make sure that all drivers, irrespective of which vehicle they will be driving, know the highway code (by heart!) before they get their driving licences. We see these killers on our roads daily and to not do anything to make our people safe from this preventable curse is criminal. Speeding, driving in between well marked lanes, changing lanes without any indication, wrongly overtaking, parking on blind corners, etc, all seem to be the new traffic laws in our country. Another big safety hazard is poorly maintained vehicles, in particular those for public use. Remember: ‘speed thrills but kills’ and ‘it is better to be a few minutes late in this world than to hurry into the next’.
M Masud Butt
Lahore