State Minister for Communications Murad Saeed said on Thursday that road safety is a major public health issue in Pakistan and that every five minutes, someone is killed or badly injured in a road traffic incident in Pakistan. As the chief guest, he was addressing the launching ceremony of Pakistan National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 arranged with the cooperation of United Kingdom-Aid and Asian Development Bank (ADB), at a local hotel. Communications Federal Secretary Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, National Highways Authority Chairman Jawwad Rafique Malik, National Highways & Motorways Police Inspector General Allah Dino Khawaja, National Transport Research Centre Chief Assistant Shahbaz Latif Mirza, Rescue 1122 Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer, Department for International Development Economic Growth Group Head Patricia Seex, ADB Country Deputy Director Sunil Mitra and Communications Ministry Roads Director Hameed Akhtar also addressed. Murad Saeed said the present government is determined to put the country on the track to development. Pakistan’s rapid economic uplift growth and expanding road infrastructure creates an opportunity to significantly improve the safety of the road transport system through better roads and roadsides, safer travel speeds, safer vehicles and improved safety awareness and compliance of all people who travel on our roads. He said Pakistan’s geographical position places it at the heart of regional road transport growth. However, improvements in mobility must not be at the expense of safety. He further said the National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 is informed by the principals of the Safe System approach which has at its core the vision that no one should die or be seriously injured because of a road traffic crash. He said the strategy can establish the foundations for safer road travel that will benefit future generations. It sets out a national framework of road safety goals, objectives and focus action areas for interventions to improve performance on key risk factors and meet a specific target for saving lives. Road safety is a shared societal responsibility. We all must do more to protect our communities from death and grievous injury, he added. The speakers opined that the Pakistan National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 builds on the foundation of the first National Road Safety Plan for Motorways and National Highways 2017-18 and broadens the scope to address all road networks and all road user groups in Pakistan. It sets out a long term road safety vision for Pakistan and practical, evidence based actions to improve safety on national, provincial and local roads. They said this strategy and the series of road safety action plans which will be developed to implement it, addresses all roads and all road users, especially vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, pedestrians, drivers and passengers in three-wheeled vehicles and children. Published in Daily Times, November 16th 2018.