Absence of caution signs endangers road users’ lives

LAHORE :Besides the ongoing road widening project, the recently started patchwork on different segments of Canal Bank Road has become a major traffic problem for the road users and is resulting in frequent accidents due to absence of warning and road safety signs.

Patchwork of Canal Bank Road was started some days back in which an LDA’s contractor started shaving the road from Punjab University and is gradually moving towards The Mall underpass to put a new asphalt layer on it. Presently the patchwork team has crossed the Ferozepur Road underpass and shaved the road segment till FC College underpass.

Ironically, no warning signs were erected on the road to inform the road users to slow down that construction work is going on ahead or heavy machinery is working. While driving on this segment of Canal Bank Road one can suddenly start feeling bumps on the road as it is shaved. This also slows down the traffic while those who are driving in speed lane also have to apply emergency brakes, which has resulted in several road accidents during the past several days.

A source in LDA revealed that the authority had made SOPs in this regard but these SOPs were never enforced in letter, and spirit and several similar complaints were lodged in the past against the same contractor.

Meanwhile, most of the major roads in the provincial capital need immediate upgradation and provision of missing facilities such as road safety signs. There are broken road dividers, fainted zebra crossing lines and missing cat eyes, which are causing traffic jams as well as fatal and non-fatal accidents.

While visiting different city roads such as The Mall, Canal Bank Road, Multan Road, Ferozepur Road, Allama Iqbal Town Main Boulevard, etc, one can witness broken road dividers, missing cat eyes, fainted road and traffic signs.

Even the roads, which were recently constructed lack some of these necessary facilities. “Road safety instruments such as lane marking, road signs, cat eyes, guardrails and others form an integral part of any major road and should be ensured on any road,” said Mohsim Shah, a resident of Faisal Town.

He said lane marking played an important role in guiding traffic directions and all the lanes should be marked properly. Rizwan Altaf, a resident of Model Town, said that for the past several days he daily faced traffic jam on Canal Bank Road due to unannounced patchwork. He urged the authorities to install proper warning signs guiding road users about directions as well as ongoing patchwork.

When contacted, LDA Chief Engineer LDA Israr Saeed didn’t attend his cell phone. No other senior LDA officials were ready to speak on the issue. An LDA spokesman said that he would reply after talking to the  officials concerned but he didn’t reply till the filing of this report.