Road rage

Speeding, rash driving and driving under influence are serious factors that lead to accidents

Last weekend, three precious lives — of a father and his two sons — were lost on Karachi’s ICI bridge, which is part of the Native Jetty flyover, after a trailer crashed into a motorcycle. For many years now, such accidents involving heavy traffic, including oil tankers and pickup trucks, have been concurrently happening on the mentioned bridge and other places in the city; and as a result countless lives have been lost leaving families devastated. Accused drivers flee the scene, cases are registered and investigations are promised, but nothing significant has yet been done to stop these fatal accidents from occurring.

Speeding, rash driving and driving under influence are serious factors that lead to such accidents. There is need to impose harsh penalties, even life imprisonment in some cases, as such fatal accidents are equivalent to murder. Moreover, ban on heavy traffic to ply before midnight must be strictly implemented. The situation demands urgent attention from higher officials who should chart out a comprehensive plan to strictly and routinely monitor dangerous places like the ICI bridge. Errant drivers must be punished, negligent traffic officials reprimanded and companies allowing transport before the allotted time must be heavily fined. In case of the ICI bridge, where accidents have been happening quite regularly, there is need to get specific tests done by some competent authority in order to ascertain if there is a design flaw, such as the smoothness of the road or the curvature of the bridge, that is playing a part. If this is the case, the bridge would need to be repaired as per regulations.

The authorities should have noticed this recurring pattern a long time ago. But now that it has been highlighted, relevant officials need to seriously look into the matter at the earliest as these accidents can be avoided with proper care. The safety of commuters must be the top most priority.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2022.

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