ISLAMABAD: The National Highway & Motorway Police (NHMP) in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) organised an awareness session on Defensive Driving Techniques at Chamber House to sensitise the business community on the importance of road safety and compliance of traffic rules in order to avoid road accidents. Giving a presentation to the business community on defensive driving techniques, NHMP Licensing Authority Inspector Muhammad Asif said that on average 15,000-16,000 people in Pakistan died annually due to traffic accidents and this figure was many times more than the loss of lives due to terrorism in the country. He said this situation necessitated enhanced sensitisation and awareness in the public about the importance of road safety measures and strict compliance of traffic rules in order to reduce the ratio of road accidents, adding that with the efforts of Motorway Police, road accidents were reducing, but there was a lot of scope for further improvement on this account. NHMP Inspector Muhammad Asif said that according to a World Health Organisation report, annually, over 1.2 million people died in the world due to road accidents while in Pakistan, reported traffic accidents caused annual casualties of 7,500-8,000 while the average annual loss including reported accidents ranging from 15,000 to 16,000. He said that according to research studies, 90 percent accidents in Pakistan occurred due to the mistake of drivers and emphasised that drivers should fully comply with traffic rules to minimise traffic accidents as death of one person affected the lives of the whole family. He asked the business community to cooperate in spreading the awareness of traffic rules for educating maximum people. Speaking on the occasion, ICCI Senior Vice President M Naveed Malik said that civilised nations developed disciplined driving by ensuring strict compliance of traffic rules and emphasised that maximum people should be sensitised on defensive driving techniques in Pakistan to promote road safety and reduce accidents. He urged that traffic rules should be made part of school curricula so that youth could be educated on the benefits of disciplined driving. He lauded the initiative of NHMP for creating awareness on defensive driving techniques and hoped that it would promote disciplined driving in the country. ICCI Vice President Nisar Mirza assured full cooperation of ICCI to motorway police in promoting awareness about defensive driving techniques in the business community. Khalid Chaudhry, Ashfaq Chatha, Dildar Abbasi, Syed Adil Anis, Nadeem Mansoor, Tahir Mahmood, Sheraz Siddiqui and others asked many traffic related questions from the inspector and assured of their cooperation in spreading the knowledge of defensive driving techniques to other people. Published in Daily Times, July 10th 2018.