Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find a single rider on a motorcycle or scooter who was not wearing a helmet.
PESHAWAR: Recently, I was in Sri Lanka for a week and learnt a lot from this visit. Firstly, one could see the effect of 100 per cent literacy in the day-to-day life of ordinary Sri Lankans. Besides other things, one was impressed with their road and traffic discipline. Other than Colombo, much of the rest of Sri Lanka is connected by largely single-track roads, with both lanes passing each other on one track. These roads are marked by white and yellow distinctive paint and the traffic passes very smoothly on either side, with no one resorting to overtaking. Secondly, despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find a single rider on a motorcycle or scooter who was not wearing a helmet.
Clearly, we, in Pakistan, need to learn a lot from this South Asian nation.
Khalid Rashid
Published in The Express Tribune, December 24th, 2013.
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