Road safety upgrade on modern lines pledged

LAHORE

The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) marked World Day for Remembrance of Road Traffic Victims on Sunday all over the Punjab with a pledge to upgrade road safety regime holistically in the province on modern lines.

In this regard, an awareness walk was organised for remembrance of road traffic accidents victims, from Shama Chowk to Rescue 1122 Headquarters, where a ceremony of candle-lit vigil and a seminar was organised to raise awareness about increasing number of road traffic crashes and community participation for prevention of these emergencies. The ceremony was presided over by DG Rescue Punjab Dr Rizwan Naseer and participated by DG ESA Brig (R) Amir Hamza, Registrar Academy Dr Muhammad Farhan Khalid, President Transport & Road Safety Foundation KZ Khushhali and Chief Instructor Road Safety Asif Khawaja. DG Rescue Punjab Dr Rizwan Naseer led the walk, which aimed at remembering millions killed or injured in road crashes and their families and communities, as well as to pay tribute to the dedicated emergency services, police and medical professionals who daily deal with the traumatic aftermath of road death and injury.

Addressing the awareness seminar, Dr Rizwan Naseer said the chief minister had established Punjab Road Safety Authority for up-gradation of Road Safety Regime. He said that the authority would take immediate measures with regard to driving licencing system, traffic engineering, vehicles fitness system, vehicle registration, database and management system. He said that now enforcement agencies needed to come forward for implementation of road safety laws. He presented the statistics of road traffic crashes in Punjab.

According to the data, all District Emergency Services have rescued the victims of over 1.42 million road traffic crashes in Punjab so far. “Some 3,287 people die every day globally during road traffic crashes, while 50 million people are injured annually,” he said, adding these accidents are the 9th leading cause of death. He said that Rescue 1122 was responding to average 500 road traffic accidents on daily basis, involving average 700 victims out of which 400-500 victims were seriously injured, whereas over 200-300 got minor injuries. Dr Rizwan Naseer said that unless proper action was taken for significant reduction of these accidents, road traffic injuries were predicted to become the 5th leading cause of death by 2030. He said that data shows 67 percent injuries were due to traffic crashes; bikes were involved in 82 percent traffic crashes whereas 82 percent traffic accident victims were aging between one to 40 years. He stressed upon the teachers to educate students to use helmet while driving motorbikes and always ensure life safety arrangement and abide by traffic laws.