Nagan Chowrangi curve: Around 100 people injured in last six months

Road Traffic Injury and Prevention Centre states women pedestrians most vulnerable

KARACHI: An estimated 90% of the women who cross Nagan Chowrangi are vulnerable to road accidents - especially at night - owing to their dark-coloured clothes and burqas.

This was revealed by Road Traffic Injury and Prevention Centre's (RTI&PC) programme manager Ameer Hussain at an event held to share statistics on road accidents on Monday.

Central Deputy Commissioner Capt (retd) Fariduddin Mustafa, who was invited at the event, did not turn up and was not available for comments later either.

RTI&PC is involved in surveillance of road accidents in Karachi for the purpose of analysing their root causes and implementing preventive measures. The centre collects information from accident victims, their attendants and ambulance drivers in the metropolis.

Putting up awareness banners forbidding pedestrians to cross the road at the curve of Nagan Chowrangi and asking commuters to reduce their vehicles' speed at the curve, Hussain said the city administration should immediately devise a strategy to save human lives.

According to data shared with The Express Tribune, 74 pillion riders have been injured at the curve of Nagan Chowrangi while trying to save pedestrians in the last six months. Additionally, around 30 pedestrians were also severely injured at the same spot while crossing the road.

Female pedestrians, he explained, are most vulnerable to accidents there owing to the dark colours they wear or the full length burqa, which is barely visible to drivers during the night.

Remedial measures

For the short-term, Hussain suggested the city administration to extend the pedestrian fencing on the median of the curve. Apart from that, he said the broken railings on both flyovers at Nagan Chowrangi should be immediately repaired as just last month, a motorcycle fell off from the flyover, which curves from Shadman Town towards Shafiq Mor.

He added that signboards in Urdu urging commuters to slow down on the curves should be placed on the upper ramp of the flyover. For the two rounded pillars of the flyover - coming from Shafiq Mor towards Power House Chowrangi - in the middle of the road, he said that technically those pillars should not be at that spot as it is very difficult for speeding drivers to gauge their presence. But since they cannot be removed now, he said the authorities should at least paint the structures with reflective stickers to save lives.

Pointing towards the cat-eyes placed before those pillars, Hussani said they are of no use anymore as they fail to reflect lights.  Abbasi Shaheed Hospital's in-charge for road accidents, Noman Ali, who was also present at the event, said the lack of streetlights is the biggest issue at Nagan Chowrangi. When pedestrians all of a sudden come in front of motorcycles at the curve during night, the bikes slip and hit footpaths, which all need to be painted immediately, he explained.

Green Line's issues

Due to the construction of the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project from Surjani Town towards Tower - resulting in the elimination of all the U-turns on the track - the culture of wrong-way traffic will increase drastically, predicted Hussain.

He pointed out that due to the BRT's construction, there is mud all over the road which is not picked up by the relevant departments and leads to motorcycles slipping in case of sudden brakes.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2016.