Lahore, Faisalabad witness higher number of accidents

Majority of the incidents involved motorcyclists

LAHORE: The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) responded to 835 road traffic crashes (RTCs) in all 36 districts of Punjab during the last 24 hours.

In these RTCs seven people were killed and 929 injured. Out of the injured 571 were severely injured and shifted to different hospitals. Whereas, 351 injured with minor wounds were treated at the incident site by Rescue Medical Teams.

The majority (86%) of the accidents involved motorcycles. Further analysis showed that 401 drivers, 31 underage drivers, 126 pedestrians and 402 passengers were among the victims of these road traffic crashes. The statistics show that 232 RTCs were reported in Lahore which affected 231 people placing the provincial capital on top of the list followed by 79 in Faisalabad with 90 victims and Multan at third with 61 RTCs and 69 victims.



As many as 929 victims were affected by road traffic crashes including 747 males and 182 females, while age group of the victims show that 135 were under 18 years of age, 520 were between 18 and 40 years and rest of the 284 victims were reported above 40 years of age.

According to the data, 666 motorcycles, 117 rickshaws, 72 cars, 52 vans, eight passenger buses, 27 trucks and 103 other types of auto vehicles and slow-moving carts were involved in aforesaid road traffic accidents.

Meanwhile, Asian Development Bank (ADP) appointed NTU International Denmark to undertake the Road Safety Component of Technical Assistance in Pakistan.

In order to finalise the National Post-Crash Care Guidelines under the CPEC Transport sector development program, a meeting was held between Specialized Healthcare Department Secretary Saqib Zafir and representative of NTU International on Tuesday.



During the meeting, the road safety programme and rescue activities on roads under CPEC were discussed. Secretary Health assured the Danish consultant that provincial health department, in collaboration of Rescue 1122, would make arrangements to provide medical aid to the injured of any road accidents.

“A mechanism for immediate access to far flung areas in case of road accidents will be drawn” said Saqib Zafer. The Danish Consultant told the health secretary that in collaboration of ADB, the NTU International wants to secure roads under CPEC and in this national post-crash care guidelines would be prepared. “Under the road safety programme, Rescue 1122 would be well equipped” said the consultant.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2018.