No space for pedestrians

Being on the roads of Pakistan - as a driver, rider or pedestrian - can be a fatal gamble. Punjab alone tells the story in numbers: Rescue 1122 recorded over 36,000 road accidents just in the month of January this year, with 463 people killed and more than 17,000 seriously injured. By May, these figures had only grown, with 434 deaths and more than 23,000 injuries. Pedestrians – though not the only casualties in these figures – make up a striking share of them.

Talk to anyone who actually walks these streets, and the landscape becomes less ambiguous, the violence almost expected. Pedestrians are routinely pushed onto roads meant for cars, because service lanes have instead been swallowed up by parked vehicles and motorcycles weaving through traffic. It's not that the people here don't know how to cross a road safely, it's that the roads were never built with them in mind. The numbers also back this up, with pedestrians making up around 41% of all road deaths in Pakistan in 2021 - noticeably higher than the regional average.

There is no dearth of practical solutions to this problem in Pakistan. There is only deferment on implementation. Instead of pouring more money into wider roads that just invite faster driving, city planners need to start treating footpaths and proper crossings as essential. Even where these already exist, many are poorly maintained with broken steps and lack of proper lighting. There is barely any road safety awareness regarding such signs and crossings in the country, which is also a major factor in these accidents.

Enforcement can't just mean handing out fines, it also means holding contractors accountable for encroached footpaths and keeping underage riders off the roads. Until our cities are designed for the people and not just for their cars, law enforcement will only be able to do so much to curb road accidents.