Road rage

Sluggishness by the government stimulates audacity of drivers. This is how one can describe the increasing number of road accidents in Pakistan. According to a Motorway Police official, in 2018, as many as 36,000 people died in road accidents in the country. On an average in recent years, 30,000 people have died in traffic accidents annually in Pakistan. During the three Eid holidays, accidents claimed many precious lives in various parts of the country. Most of these accidents, as usual, happened mainly because of reckless driving. There are traffic rules but drivers do not adhere to them. Most drivers are in the habit of reckless driving and disregarding traffic signs. It is difficult to tell how many drivers can read traffic rules and comprehend traffic signs considering the fact that most drivers are illiterate. One fails to understand why the departments concerned fail to enforce traffic rules.

It has been observed that a majority of drivers are drug addicts and also consume alcohol. Most drivers are overworked, so in order to cope with stress they use drugs and alcohol. Bad condition of roads and highways is also to blame for accidents. It is daily witnessed on our roads and highways that bus and truck drivers indulge in speeding and the traffic police stand as mere spectators. Drivers indulge in over-speeding and none of the passengers protest. Long-distance inter-city buses stop at restaurants where the passengers are charged ridiculously inflated rates for food. In the absence of a sufficient number of trains, people are left with no option but to give in to the blackmailing by transporters and their accomplices. Transporters also manage to get trains delayed by bribing railway officials.

At one time, the government displayed mangled remains of vehicles, at prominent points, that had met with accidents to deter drivers from reckless driving. So far nothing has worked.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2019.

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