That ‘bloody road’ again

SIALKOT: Over 96 people have lost their lives in road accidents and 267 have been seriously injured during the last six months in the Sialkot district.

According to the official statistics, as many as 329 accidents were declared to have taken place between the months of March and August in the district by traffic police officials. Most of the road accidents took place on the main Sialkot-Daska-Gujranwala Road. According to traffic officials, the number of casualties taking place in the Gujranwala section of the road is much higher.

Locals in the area refer to the Sialkot-Daska-Gujranwala transit as ‘The Bloody Road’ following the increasing number of accidents on it due to reckless driving by the public transport vehicles. “Most of the accidents have been a result of a truck or wagon colliding with private vehicles,” said traffic police officer Jamaluddin, adding that the largest number of accidents took place late at night. “I have personally caught truck drivers who place a brick on the accelerator of the truck and fall asleep!” he said.

Commuting on the 48km road has become extremely risky due to speeding vehicles and unchecked reckless driving. Locals have said that the road is made more dangerous because the traffic flow remains consistently high during all times of the day. “There is no ‘rush hour’ on the road, every hour is rush hour and the traffic includes buses, wagons, rickshaws, tongas and cars,” said Aslam Imtiaz, a Daska resident.

According to traffic officials on average over 35 accidents occur on the road every month and many prove fatal. Two years ago, traffic control of this main road was handed over to the highway patrolling police, which replaced the traffic police on duty. Now, the highway patrolling police is responsible for issuing tickets to people violating traffic rules on the main road along with performing their regular duties. Traffic officials said that the highway patrolling police lacked instruments for checking the speed of vehicles plying the main road.

The Sialkot-Daska-Gujranwala Road was widened about 18 years ago by the then Punjab government. Since then, the traffic on the road has multiplied by six times and work is currently underway to convert the road into a dual carriageway to reduce the number of accidents taking place.

The slow pace of construction and dualisation is causing more accidents as several sections of the road have been cordoned off for construction and traffic is being re-routed.

The Sialkot business community and general public have lodged strong protests against the mishandling of the railway level crossing system in Sialkot which has caused several accidents in the area. All the five railway crossings located in Sialkot city often are closed about 15 times daily, which result in congestion at all major crossings.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2010.