KARACHI, Dec 30: Drivers of commercial vehicles, both light and heavy, were responsible for 77 per cent of all fatal road accidents this year in the city and most of the victims were pedestrians.

The major causes of fatal accidents were over-speeding and the drivers’ veering onto the wrong side. Such violations of traffic rules are rampant and the offenders’ majority are drivers of buses, minibuses, coaches and heavy vehicles who often change lanes abruptly and resort to rash driving.

Pedestrians’ error while using roads and drivers’ negligence caused more than 48 per cent of the accidents that claimed the life of the pedestrian involved, according to the data compiled by the city government’s transport & communication department in collaboration with the traffic police.

Every year, around 600 people die in traffic accidents in the city and the involvement of commercial vehicles always remains above 70 per cent although the share of public transport vehicles in the city’s network is mere 3.5 per cent. Stern action has never been taken against the transport mafia as whenever the police launched a drive to establish writ of law, the mafia’s influence forced police high-ups to abandon the campaign.

During 2006, 1,081 road traffic accidents occurred. According to data, 643 people were killed in 578 accidents while 998 people suffered injuries in 503 accidents.

Traffic police officials believe the situation cannot be termed ‘alarming’ in a city like Karachi but efforts should be made and measures taken to improve the same. They argue the number of vehicles on city roads has climbed from 1.1 million in 2001 to 1.6 million now.

This rapid growth has created a mess and makes traffic management difficult. Unless alternative arrangements are made such as revival of circular railway or introduction of light rail project, the hours-long traffic jams will become a daily routine.

The traffic police issued more than 800,000 ‘tickets’ to drivers for violating traffic rules and imposed almost Rs80 million as fine. According to the police, more than Rs70 million has been recovered.

Most of the drivers got tickets for driving in wrong lane and parking a vehicle in no-parking zones or in a manner obstructing right of way. Other offences were violation of traffic signal and use of cellular phones while driving.

Many bus drivers were fined for offences like allowing male passengers into the ladies compartment, overloading, reckless and negligent driving, dangerous overtaking, etc.

A majority of victims of fatal accidents, according to the data, were between 15-44 years. Officials say that such loss of life can be avoided through immediate steps to check over-speeding; improving the design of roads and vehicles to ensure that pedestrians and those riding cycles, motorcycles, etc are more visible to drivers of bigger vehicles; and enforcing road safety regulations strictly.