Traffic fatigue

Fleeting moments

When a delinquent ran some pedestrians over in a mall in Melbourne and killed five people the incident made it to the headlines in print, TV and online media. Citizens held a candlelight vigil for the victims of the accident. The Australian prime minister attended the vigil to mourn the death of innocent citizens.

But any such event here in Pakistan, in which lives are lost, rarely stirs the authorities. We are an accident-prone nation whose conscience is pricked only when the loss of life involves that of a dear one.      

In our overcrowded cities, a sea of vehicles plies on the roads and motorcyclists fearlessly perform their zigzag stunts, endangering the lives of others. The accidents are so frequent that people just read the headlines that mention them and move on without reading the details. For instance, ‘Three of a family die in accident’, ‘A fast train crushes eight of a family on an unmanned railway crossing’ or ‘Six die when a gas cylinder exploded’. None of these are out of the ordinary. By the way, is filling gas cylinders in crowded places legal or illegal? 

The accidents that occur on unmanned railway crossings are perplexing. The distance between two railway tracks is about five feet. A car, wagon or bus could easily cross this distance without being hit by an oncoming train; or it could wait for the train to pass and then cross the railway line. All this requires is a little patience and discipline which the Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique cannot teach people. He would offer to resign only if it helped control accidents on unmanned railway crossings. Since his resignation won’t control railway accidents, he won’t resign – however hard Imran Khan may push him to do so.        

Moreover, the train never appears from around a blind corner that a vehicle driver can’t see it in time. The coming train can be spotted from a long distance for those crossing the railway line to get away in time.    

The chaotic traffic situation asks for the immediate attention of the government. Road intersections remain jammed by vehicles of all kinds. Often on such occasions, a weapon-flailing police bodyguard will appear in the middle of the traffic jam and block the traffic for the VIP he is escorting. As soon as the VIP has crossed the intersection, the policeman will hang on to the escort vehicle following the big man, leaving behind a whirl of smoke. The message for ordinary motorists, taxpayers who look on at the affair: eat your hearts out.      

In Lahore, a city of around 10 million, the traffic situation is bad news. Reportedly, there are only about 3,800 traffic wardens to control thousands of cars, rickshaws, and motorcycles. In the absence of an efficient public transport system, everyone takes to the road in a private vehicle. The worst kind of traffic jams take place near private schools and colleges when children leave school to go home. It is usual to see every other student coming to school in a chauffeured car; this not only wastes precious fuel but also creates chaos on the roads.         

The chief minister of Punjab shows a lot of concern about the safety of the public. He ordered the dismissal of two senior doctors at Jinnah Hospital when a woman died due to not getting a bed in the hospital. Wouldn’t he like to take notice of the innocent lives lost on the roads every day in the province?

What’s the point of developing wide roads and underpasses when, instead of streamlining the traffic, they act as killing fields? Sadly, even apparently educated drivers seem ignorant about traffic rules, especially in case of right of way on road intersections. Who will bring sanity on the roads and save precious human lives?

The writer is a freelance columnist based in Lahore. Email: pinecity@gmail.com