Alarming traffic situation: Donkeys in the fast lane

Given their slow pace, donkey carts should be regulated and made to drive in the slow-lane.

Naveed Masood January 15, 2011
Time and again, the menace of child labour has been deplored by organisations, social workers, politicians and people in general, for obvious disadvantages and cruelties associated with it, but recently I came across another dimension attached to it.

On a typical morning, I was rushing to a school in Defence in Karachi where I teach, and had taken the Ittehad route. Those familiar with the route would know that cars usually move at relatively higher speeds on that particular road.

So here I was trying to reach school on time; I’ll be honest that I wasn’t over-speeding. At a distance, I saw two donkey carts in the middle lane, so I tried switching to the lane on the right. Just seconds later, one of the donkey carts, being handled by two kids no more than 12 years of age, without using any hand gestures as indicators, also changed their lane. I immediately braked to avoid an inevitable collision. Nobody got injured thankfully, although my car suffered minor damages. There were three more cars behind me, and only luck saved us from a deadly pile-up.

I think the situation, in general, is a little alarming. I am not calling for the barring of traditional transportation means, but I believe the authorities should at least regulate them. Given their usual slow pace, it would make more sense if they are confined to the slower lane on the left.

Moreover, the practice of children driving these carts should be eradicated because they are putting the lives of others, as well as their own, into jeopardy.

Also, I have observed that people often use road accident situations to argue and fight for no good reason. Since social responsibility is something that is to be shared by all members of society, I therefore urge commuters that they should make an effort to carefully handle such situations since it will only add to improving our prevalent traffic conditions.

WRITTEN BY:
Naveed Masood A sub-editor on the National Desk for the Express Tribune and a keen musician.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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