Average of daily RTCs crosses 1,000

Rescue 1122 DG says data shows visible increase compared to previous months

LAHORE: Road traffic crashes (RTC) are increasingly resulting in death and leaving a huge socioeconomic impact on society, said Punjab Emergency Service Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer.

He expressed his views while presiding over a monthly performance review meeting of all emergency operations across Punjab on Tuesday at the Rescue Headquarters. The purpose of the meeting was to ensure uniform standards of the service and smooth service delivery without any discrimination. All heads of wings and other officers of headquarters were present on the occasion.

The average number of RTCs daily in Punjab has crossed the figure of 1,000 during the month of August. The number includes RTCs responded only by Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122).

Motorcycles: Convenient but deadly

This data was revealed by the DG during a meeting at the service’s headquarters. He added that it was a visible increase as compared to previous months as Rescue 1122 was dealing with an average of 900 RTCs, on a daily basis, in Punjab. Besides this, an average of 1,157 people are injured or disabled in accidents across Punjab. Motorcycles are involved in about 80% of the RTCs.

DD Operations Ayaz Aslam told the Director General that the Punjab Emergency Service rescued 141,290  victims while responding to 107,409 emergencies, with an average response time of seven minutes, across the province during the month of August. He briefed the meeting that out of the 107,409 emergencies, 31,468 RTCs were reported in which 261 lives were lost.



He also briefed that Rescue 1122 responded to 31,468 road accidents, 58,464 medical emergencies, 920 fire incidents, 3,251 crimes, 209 drowning incidents, 98 building collapses, 11 explosions (cylinder blasts) and 12,988 miscellaneous operations.

According to the statistics, the majority of fire incidents occurred in major cities, including 229 fires in Lahore, 90 in Rawalpindi, 105 in Faisalabad, 69 in Multan, 46 in Gujranwala, 34 in Sialkot, 29 in Rahim Yar Khan, and 13 in Sheikhupura. Similarly, 6,997 road accidents were reported in Lahore, 3,038 in Faisalabad, 2,448 in Multan, 1,662 in Gujranwala, 1,108 in Bahawalpur, 1,069 in Rawalpindi and 954 in Sahiwal.

Building ‘Traffic Pakistan’ and the problem with start-ups

Speaking on the occasion, the DG said that many RTCs can only be prevented by adopting safety measures. He stressed that motorcyclists should always drive in the extreme left lane at a maximum speed limit of 50km/h and ensure the wearing a proper helmet and use of side mirrors.

He requested all stakeholders to join hands with Rescue 1122 to reduce RTCs.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2019.