Editorial
Unsafe highways unsafe travel
Authorities must move to address the danger
Our highways are veritable death traps that have over the years on the average taken more lives per year than in any other country. And we seem to be in a state of torpor when it comes to addressing this danger. Statistics of the Highway Police indicate a figure of 510 deaths on the highways only in the first half of 2010. The figure is perhaps much higher considering the fact that many accidents do not get reported at all or are taken cognizance of by the police.
Just take the statistics of death in highway accidents over the three-day holiday period of Eid-ul-Azha. Forty-five people perished while travelling on the inter-district roads. And most of the accidents were caused by over-speeding bus running into the roadside ditch or hitting a road side tree, or colliding head-on or motor cyclists run over by overloaded vehicles running at speeds much higher than the driver's ability to control.
There have been several studies on the causes of highway accidents and remedies thereof and there have been endless colloquiums and articles and meetings at the highest level of the government, yet nothing tangible by way of remedial measures has been done.
Of the factors, faulty road engineering and lack of police supervision have emerged as the two most important ones. And these two areas continue to be neglected. In spite of the fact that major faults on the highways have been identified by the by the authorities concerned, very few, if any, have been set right; and this despite the instructions of the PM to address the issue of highway safety on urgent basis.
But if mending the construction faults is a time-consuming process the essential supervision by the police, particularly during the Eid rush, might have helped reduce the number of accidents and prevent deaths. But this has been scant at best and at worst totally non-existent.
We have on many occasions in this very column stressed the need to reinforce the highway police. It is not only the shortage of manpower but also of mobility which is woefully lacking. Add to this the graft-taking propensity of the keepers of law and order that allows the errant drivers to not only violate traffic rules but also escape after causing an accident. And some regulatory measures like speed governors have not worked.
Road travel will become an even more dangerous proposition unless something is done about it soon enough.
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