Nearly 1.3 million people die and 50 million are disabled in road accidents across the world each year, Punjab Emergency Services Director General Rizwan Naseer said on Sunday.
He was speaking on the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
Naseer said Rescue-1122 had responded to more than 9 million road accidents since the service was launched.
He said the purpose of observing the day was to remember those who had lost their lives in road accidents and to pay tribute to emergency services.
The director general asked district emergency officers to educate citizens about road safety.
“Let’s pledge to reduce the damage caused by road accidents. We need a policy in this regard.”
“If we don’t pay attention, more families will suffer in days to come,” he said.
Naseer said accidents were occurred due to drivers’ mistakes, technical faults in vehicles or pedestrians’ mistakes. He pointed to lack of legislation with regard to accidents caused by slow-moving vehicles such as donkey carts.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2014.
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