Daily Times

LAHORE: Road accidents claim 35 lives every day in Pakistan, besides injuring 13,000 people, which has pushed the country in the world ranking in terms of road safety from 20th in 2014 to 67th in 2016.

These facts, based on a UN study, were shared at a safety workshop for journalists organised by Telenor and National Highway and Motorway Police at a local hotel here on Wednesday.

Motorway Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Malik Ghulam Rasool said road safety awareness was necessary to avoid loss of precious lives and property. He said that the motorway police were actively collaborating with other stakeholders to spread awareness through the media.

To a query, a motorway police trainer, Rana Javed, said that Kallar Kahar area was an engineering fault that was why “now we have been left with no option but to reduce speed limit, use infrastructure support and awareness to control accidents in the Salt Range area”.

He said that road safety awareness campaign aimed at securing lives and property of road users. “The motorway police were responsible for ensuring safety on the 2,900-kilometre-long highways, being used by 95 percent of freight and 90 percent of passenger vehicles. We have reduced accidents by 70 percent,” he said.

Rana Javed said the main factors behind road accidents were faulty road engineering and vehicles; slackness on part of drivers/road users; and environment. He said that lack of training among drivers was one of the most significant factors, as the share of the human fault was 84 percent, while environment and vehicle fitness contributed to the remaining 16 percent of accidents.

According to the UN data of accidents across the world, 1.3 million people die annually in road accidents. This means 3,000 persons die every day, out of which 500 are children. “This reflects that one child every three minutes loses life in a road accident,” the trainer said. Moreover, the participants were informed that road accidents accounted for injuries to 50 million people annually, including 15 million serious injuries, and a loss of property worth $65billion, as per the UN statistics.

Talking about local figures, he said that 15,000 people die every year in the country, which meant that 35 people lost their lives every day. He also said that five million people get injured every year in road accidents.

He warned that by the year 2020, there would be an 80 percent increase in injuries resulting from road accidents if action was not taken. “Therefore, the UN has declared the decade (2010 to 2020) a decade of action against road traffic accidents (RTA).

The participants were told that the best practices to avoid accidents included pedestrian rule “see and be seen”, meaning that one should ensure that “drivers can see you”.

Rana Javed said that casualties among motorcyclists were also on the rise in Pakistan. He said that bikers (including pillion riders) needed to use safety hamlets, which should be chin-strapped. “Use of goggles, gloves and proper shoes is also necessary for motorcyclists.”

He also said that 98 percent of the motorbikes did not have a rear mirror, which also caused accidents because the “rider cannot see the traffic coming from behind”.

The trainer mentioned two formulas to check vehicles before driving on a daily basis: T-CLOCK – tyre, control, lights, oil and fuel, chain and kick – and POWER – Petrol, oil, water, electricity and rubber. The workshop highlighted that road safety was a shared responsibility and the media could play a very important role in this regard.

He said that the use of safety belt increases the chances of survival by 50 percent, and added that out of the total number, more than 12 percent accidents were caused by the use of cell phone while driving. “Mobile use decreases reaction time by 50 percent, and chances of accident increases by four times.”