LAHORE: The menace of road accidents continues to take its toll on people, thanks to ‘casualness’ of the regulating agencies and the public at large.

Although the authorities responsible for traffic management and issuing driving licences claim that they keep launching campaigns to educate people on rules and virtues of safe driving from time to time, there is a lot to be desired to minimise the number of accidents.

“At least 14,000 to 15,000 people annually die in road accidents across the country. About 50,000 are injured, many of them suffering permanent disability. Nearly 80pc of the victims are between 15 and 28 years of age,” says a senior official of the National Highways and Motorway Authority, which keeps an eye on the issue.

“The accidents also bring trauma for the victims and their families. The fact is that the number of accident victims is much more than those who lose their lives to terrorism. Yet, we turn a blind eye to the horrific road accidents,” says the official.

A research conducted by Dawn reveals some basic faults on the part of people and government agencies that generally cause road accidents. They include a lack of road sense among drivers and little interest in checking whether their vehicles are roadworthy or not. They get driving licences without fulfilling the eligibility criteria and most people drive recklessly.

Then the process of issuing a driving licence has issues of its own. Anyone above 18 years can get a learner’s licence without proving even the basic ability to drive.

Even the procedure for the regular licence appears to be replete with faults. There is hardly any system of inculcating road sense among people or teaching them how to drive properly. It’s been observed that the driving centres, most if not all, make a fast buck without proper guidance to learners and one can easily style oneself to be a driving instructor. The facilities by the traffic police and the transport authority are generally avoided for not being mandatory to attend.

It is a common sight that two-wheelers and motorcycle-rickshaws are involved in road accidents in Punjab as in most cases underage drivers take these to road without any driving test or licence. They do not bother to follow rules and drive recklessly.

There are several government agencies and police to ensure discipline on roads and roadworthiness of vehicles and ability of drivers. But they are not found to be delivering and instead shift the blame of faults to each other and ultimately hold people responsible for the loss of lives and injuries they suffer. Police do register cases but a majority of people do not pursue these for various reasons.

The Punjab police data shows registration of 2,431 road accident cases in 2016; the figure was 2,260 in 2015. In these accidents, 2,172 people were killed compared to 2,557 the previous year. The number of the injured was 1,517.

Lahore registered the highest number (443) of road accidents. They resulted in the death of 259 persons and injuries to 155. The number of cases was 397 in the previous year but the death toll was 379.

The police also registered 2,172 cases of non-fatal accidents in 2016 in which 3,168 persons were injured. Lahore again topped the list with 305 injured in 259 accidents.

According to the Rescue 1122 (which covers cities), there were 216,623 road accidents in 2016 in Punjab involving 257,736 people. Out of them, 2,843 died and 179,113 were admitted to hospitals with injuries. The victims included 35,749 pedestrians, 96,481 drivers, 6,771 underage drivers and 52,754 women. A majority of them aged between 18 and 40 years (159,281).

Motorbikes caused the highest number of accidents (178,159) and were followed by motorcycle-rickshaws (30,789), cars (22,639), vans (11,306), buses (2,897) and trucks (7,158). The number of deaths in Lahore was 265.

The NH&MP recorded 42 road accidents at the 640km Lahore to Sindh stretch of the highway in 2016. Out of them, 33 were fatal, killing 64 people and injuring 76.

U-turns caused nine accidents which were the highest. Five each took place because of reckless driving, lane violations and road crossings. Three took place because of dozing at wheel, two each due to mechanical faults, failure to keep safe distance and over speeding, and once each due to fog, one-way violation and slippery road.

The number of motorcycles involved was highest (15). It was followed by 13 trailers and trucks, 11 buses, nine wagons, eight cars, and five tractor trolleys. The data shows most accidents, 10, took place on Fridays between 9 and 10 am (morning rush hour).

National Highways and Motorway Police spokesman Imran Shah says the number of accidents on the motorway is less than those on other roads in the country because of better management and care. “We disallow a rickety vehicle to travel on motorway at entry points where checking is strict. Over speeding is not spared.”

But he says the Salt Range portion of the motorway is a sore point. It is dangerous and was designed without consulting police. Mr Shah points out many road engineering faults which are ‘death traps’ on the national highway. For example, the U-turn on Multan Road near Chuhng is notorious for routine accidents.

The road turn near Manga Mandi’s Aligarh School is another point where vehicles overturn due to rash driving or whenever there is rain. “People take a turn from central reservations at Manga Mandi Bypass instead of from proper U-turns, causing regular accidents. People are overrun by vehicles at the Manga-Phoolnagar portion of industrial area because of careless road crossing.

Similarly, the Khatarnak Morr on the Pattoki-Manga Mandi Road is a death trap for motorists.

“The technical factors include ignoring fitness of vehicles such as brakes, air pressure of tyres and using worn-out ones, and allowing rickety vehicles to ply. Public transport vehicles are required to get fitness certificates from the Punjab Transport Authority. But there is tokenism and carefree attitude. For instance, the bus of a Faisalabad school had a fitness certificate but its brakes failed at Kallarkahar, killing many schoolchildren on board in 2012-13.”

It is scandalous, Mr Shah says, there is no agency to check the fitness of private vehicles, particularly motorcycles, motorcycle-rickshaws and auto rickshaws allowing them to become the major source of road accidents. There is also no ban on riding motorcycles on highways. Families travel by these from one city to another and risk their lives.

“In principle those involved in fatal road accidents should not be allowed to drive in future. But this is not possible because one can have a new driving licence from some other district if cancelled anywhere else as there is no centralised computer record,” he says.

Punjab ADIG Traffic Tariq Azeem says faults or corruption in driving licences are not the main causes of road accidents in Punjab. The real issue is reckless driving even by those who are ‘expert’ drivers and have genuine driving licences. “A crash helmet does not save the life of a motorcyclist if he is rashly driving it or do a wheeling,” he says.

He admits that no one checks the roadworthiness of private cars, motorcycles and rickshaws but also points out faults in the issuance of such documents to the public transport. The traffic police maintain a driving school at Lahore’s Thokar Niaz Beg but it is not possible to impart skill to thousands of people who daily obtain learner’s licences, he says.

He says not many road accident cases are pursued by the victims or their families. “We do not have a single ‘collision expert’ anywhere in Pakistan. In developed countries these experts collect forensic evidence of all accidents and on the basis of which insurance claims are accepted or rejected.”

Punjab Transport Authority Secretary Chaudhry Iqbal says it’s a challenging job and the transport department is fast digitalising its licence issuing and motor inspection systems. The new system will be in place in all Punjab cities by June this year, ironing out many faults in the management of transport, he says.

Published in Dawn, January 29th, 2017