Safety first: Drive better, save lives

A seminar at NED University highlighted the importance of traffic rules

KARACHI: The reason for the use of amber lights at traffic signals left the students of NED University baffled, as no one was able to answer what purpose they actually serve.

Motorway Police SPO Farhan Ahmed told the students that when a yellow light appears alone, it means one should be ready to stop the vehicle. "But when the red and yellow light appear together, it means one should be ready to move the vehicle," he explained, adding that most drivers do not know these rules.

Ahmed was briefing the students about traffic rules and precautions that need to be taken while driving at a workshop, titled 'Safety Is Your Priority', conducted by the National Highway and Motorway Police, zone South, at NED University on Wednesday.

Motorway DIG Waliullah spoke about the five Es of road safety — engineering, education, enforcement, evacuation and evaluation. He said that by ensuring these five Es of road safety, the ratio of accidents can be decreased. Focusing on engineering, he said that with perfect engineering, road safety could be ensured, while defective engineering is a major cause of road accidents.

Road accidents, according to him, are classified into three categories. The first category is human error, the second is related to road structure and the third is because of the bad condition of vehicles, according to Waliullah. "We don't have essential accessories installed in our vehicles, like indicators and brake lights, which become the cause of severe road accidents," he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2015.