THE death of more than 40 people in a horrifying traffic accident near Sukkur on Sunday, right after a similar tragedy in Dera Ghazi Khan, speaks of the country’s poor road safety standards.

Pakistan has about 20 automobiles per 1,000 people. Even with such a low automobile population, though, accidents are frequent. Meanwhile, 90pc of passengers move via road networks, thus road safety needs special attention.

The Lahore High Court chief justice directed the Punjab government to constitute a Road Safety Commission, ordering that the government take action against unfit vehicles and underage drivers. This was a consequence of a citizen’s petition.

All the stakeholders in road safety must realise the gravity of the situation. Road safety pertains to human, mechanical and infrastructural aspects, and rectifying only one component may not yield the desired results.

Vehicular fitness is often overlooked. Standardisation and transparency in the functioning of motor vehicle examiners (MVEs) is lacking. It is imperative that all public service vehicles (PSVs) be physically examined. Dependence on manual examination can be reduced by using modern gadgets. This function can be outsourced to reputed automobile companies. Licensing, too, requires transparency, standardisation and the creation of linkages with Nadra. A National Licensing Regulatory Authority needs to be established.

The non-availability of emergency exits and excessive use of iron rods and T-irons in the fabrication of the bodies of buses impedes evacuation operations. The building of buses must be regulated with safety standards in view. Section 203 of Chapter-VI of the Motor Vehicle Rules, 1969, requires that PSVs should have fire extinguishers but most don’t.

After an accident, the role of the rescue team is of vital importance. Except for the Motorway Police and the Rescue 1122 service, provincial police units do not have hydraulic cutters, cranes, searchlights or ambulances. Then, the absence of trauma centres on highways makes the rescue work hard. Instant life-saving intervention provided within an hour of an accident saves lives. But usually, transportation to the nearest ordinary health facility takes more than one hour.

In Pakistan, the traffic police are the unattractive face of the police force. The introduction of the Motorway Police in 1997 was the right step. It is the only aspect of the Pakistan police service that earned credibility in the eyes of the UN and the Asian Development Bank. It has been rated as not only an efficient but also a corruption-free police organisation. The model was copied by the Islamabad traffic police and Punjab’s traffic wardens, but these organisations have yet to achieve the set ideals.

Adopting a zero-tolerance approach, the Motorway Police ensure equal application of the law. They have opted for soft policing rather than punitive policing. The body’s sole mission is not the collection of fines. Prior to enforcement, the community is educated about the laws.

It is hard to quantify the number of traffic fatalities exactly. Meanwhile, the majority of non-fatal accidents go unreported. According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 2010-11, in 4,280 accidents 5,271 persons were killed. According to the Edhi Centre in Karachi, 644 persons died in accidents in the city during 2013. Besides human losses, Pakistan’s motorists suffer monetary losses worth Rs100 million annually.

According to a global status report on road safety 2013, in Pakistan 41pc of victims of road accidents were pedestrians. Yet the safety of pedestrians remains a missing link. The construction of underpasses, overhead bridges, the illumination of roads and the installation of road furniture have to be the integral components of road safety plans.

Except on the motorways, highways and in Islamabad, in the rest of the country enforcement regarding seatbelts is nonexistent. Backseat passengers usually don’t wear seatbelts as a norm.

Overloaded trucks not only destroy the roads but are also safety hazards. In 90pc of cases, commercial vehicles carry more than the allowed standard axle-load. Two-axle trucks, which account for 70pc in the overall truck fleet, badly damage our roads.

Pakistan lacks driving training facilities, even though the National Highway Safety Ordinance, 2000 promotes the setting up of training schools. These are to be administered by the private sector under the regulatory role of the government.

The drafting and implementation of a national road safety plan is inevitable. A national road safety council with provincial councils and district committees should be notified to oversee the implementation of the plan. Road safety must also be made part of school curricula, too.

Then, to evaluate risky locations, a joint road safety audit should be carried out by the National Highways Authority, the Motorway Police and provincial highway authorities. Immediate preventive measures are required to identify black spots.

The writer is a deputy inspector general of the police.

alibabakhel@hotmail.com