Road accidents

Llong-term solution is for govt to get experts to survey these accident-prone areas, solve structural problems.

Fatal accidents on the highways, especially in rural Sindh, reflect gross negligence on the part of the government. It has no doubt failed to ensure the safety of the lives of its citizens by failing to implement highway laws, failing to maintain the quality of roads and failing to hold accountable those who violate traffic laws and lead to the loss of precious lives.

The head-on collision between two vans on the Mehran National Highway over the weekend when at least 10 people lost their lives and nearly 11 were injured is one such example of the calamities that happen when authorities fail to do their job. Unfortunately, this was not the first such incident. Major road accidents on highways in the area have already claimed at least 19 lives and left nearly 70 others injured in the past year.

These dismal statistics show that there is an urgent need to improve highway policing, especially when it comes to passenger vehicles, since in these cases, incompetent drivers are playing with the lives of many people. The traffic police department must be empowered to arrest those violating traffic laws. The courts must award exemplary punishments to these people so that others are deterred from doing the same.

The traffic police must also eliminate the culture of bribes from their driving licence branches. Obtaining a driving licence should be a difficult process and drivers must clear all tests properly before they are allowed on the roads. Responsible drives are needed if the government wants to avoid such accidents in the future.

The government must also improve the traffic infrastructure. The highways should be double roads, instead of one way so that head-on collisions can be prevented. Speed limits must be implemented strictly and the roads should be of good quality so that accidents are minimised. A long-term solution to this problem is for the government to get experts to survey these accident-prone areas, figure out structural problems with road designs and traffic flow and then suggest solutions.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2014.