A recent study has found that 44 per cent of all road accidents in the world occur in the Asia Pacific region although it has only about only 16 per cent of the world’s automobiles.
The study undertaken at Quaid-i-Azam University’s Department of Sociology concluded that the authorities concerned needed to make all kinds of interventions to remedy the situation. Among other measures, the authors proposed heavier fines for violation of traffic laws.
According to World Health Organization estimates for the year 2018 27,582 people were killed in road accidents. In Pakistan, there were only two convictions.
Apparently, no one in the country is interested in improving the state of road safety.
There is a need to reform the weak penalty system. In cases involving injuries there need to be convictions. There also needs to be an effective Child Restraint Law.
While our legislatives may have been slow in this regard, the few laws we have are also not being enforced strictly.
It is hoped that the number of road accidents will decline once we have a centralized public transport system as well as a centralized licensing system. We also need better maintenance standards for vehicles. We do have laws requiring fastening of seatbelts and wearing helmets while riding motorbikes but their enforcement has been a joke. There is a dire need also for quality public transport in metropolitan cities. It is sometimes argued that ensuring road safety requires huge public spending. Experts believe, however, that it is more of a management issue.
The introduction of sort parking too can cut the traffic volume and thus the number of accidents. As many as 40 per cent of the automated signals countrywide have also been found out of order. There is a need to impose heavy fines for traffic violations. However, the fines must be equitable. One way to ensure equity is to index them on the cost of the vehicle involved.
In many urban areas the speed limits need to come down. It is estimated that a speed reduction of as little as 5 kilometres pr hour can reduce the number of fatalities by 30 per cent.
Speeding, overloading and unawareness of traffic rules on the part of drivers and negligence on the part of parents are some of the leading causes of road crashes. We also need to sensitize the youth to value safer places to drive. *