Putting lives in danger

Driving around in Pakistan it is really mind boggling to see overloaded buses; vans; horse drawn tongas (where they are allowed) and even the three wheeled rickshaws as well as the carts pulled by a small donkey – not to say anything about the overloaded trucks that carry cargo of different kinds - plying the roads! It makes you wonder about the psyche behind this practice of loading on more than the capacity of these vehicles. Risking their lives as well as those of others on the road, these over-loaders are neither stopped by their conscience or common sense, nor are they taken to task by the traffic police.

While we can put some of the blame on ‘ignorance,’ what can we say about those who are supposedly educated and should know better than to risk the lives of their loved ones? Just look at the picture and observe how the car has been overloaded to such an extent that the children have been made to sit in the trunk or ‘dickey’ as we call it. Or come to think of it, maybe the children are domestic servants and have been ‘accommodated’ in this manner? How irresponsible is that? It’s a disaster waiting to happen, especially in circumstances where traffic is heavy. What would be the result if a heavy vehicle could not apply its brakes in time and rammed into the car from behind? It’s horrifying just to think about it. If not resulting in immediate death, the children could be maimed for life and all because of a careless, unthinking attitude.

Whatever the case may be, the innocent children who are seated in the dickey obviously think of it as a lot of fun and games and appear happy to be taking a ride in this unusual manner but the elders sitting comfortably inside should be aware that this is not about making children ‘happy’ - it’s about putting them in danger. A few moments of ‘happiness’ could end in a lifetime of regret for putting lives in danger and ending up with a sad outcome to what is probably an occasion to enjoy an outing together.

Traffic police too should be more vigilant about instances such as this – as well as other kinds of overloading - and offenders should be fined heavily, no matter if it’s the owner of a fancy automobile or a rusty old one. It’s too much to hope that any notice will be taken of overloaded carts pulled by animals since human lives are not even considered important enough to be kept out of danger.