Unsafe roads

Dump trucks seem to be involved in a number of such accidents and steps must be taken to regulate their movement.

Road accidents involving multiple fatalities are almost a daily occurrence, and rarely merit more than a few lines in the newspapers or a few seconds of TV airtime, but some are more horrific than others. In May 2013, 17 children and a teacher were burned to death on the outskirts of Gujrat after a faulty fuel line caused a fire in the bus they were travelling in. There were calls for an inquiry and for a tightening of inspection of vehicles used to transport children. Little or nothing came of it. Now, 19 children, two teachers and the school bus driver have died close to Nawabshah, the result of a collision between a recklessly driven dump truck, the school bus and another vehicle that got involved in the pile-up. The driver of the dump truck was arrested. All the vehicles were on a single track dirt road and the accident took place at a known black spot created by a dangerous curve. Another incident on the same day, again involving children, took place in Multan. A truck and a rickshaw collided and 13 children were injured, none fatally. The truck driver ran away.



These accidents highlight several problems with road safety including the basic one of how at times drivers get their licences without even appearing for the driving test. Given how common such deadly accidents seem to have become, it is crucial that the matter of testing drivers strictly and giving licences accordingly be taken with utmost seriousness. The cost of being lax in this regard is too high, as the number of child fatalities in these recent accidents show. Vehicles, especially buses carrying tens of people and large trucks and tankers among others must also be inspected for safety on a regular basis to ensure that such accidents do not happen in the future. Dump trucks, especially, seem to be involved in a number of such accidents and steps must be taken to regulate their movement.

Indeed, with few exceptions, mass-casualty road accidents are the result of poor driving or badly maintained vehicles, both vectors on daily display in Pakistan. Vehicle operators ignore what laws there are and the police rarely enforce them anyway. This must change so that no more lives are lost to such carelessness.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2014.

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