Opposition decries giving ‘licence to kill’ to emergency vans’ drivers in new bill

The Sindh Assembly on Wednesday passed into law a bill to facilitate the movement of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, on the road. However, the opposition raised objections to a provision in the law which its lawmakers said gave a virtual “license to kill” to drivers of such vehicles.

As Minister for Law Ziaul Hassan Lanjar moved the Provincial Motor Vehicles (Amendment) Bill-2018 in the House for discussion, several opposition lawmakers, including the Leader of Opposition Khawaja Izharul Hassan, objected to Sub-section (5) of Section 6. According to them, the clause gives a virtual “license to kill” to drivers of emergency vehicles, including ambulances.

The sub-section states, “No driver of an emergency vehicle shall be convicted of an offence punishable under sub-section (1) if he was responding to an emergency and was not exceeding the limit of 80 km/hrs.”

Objections

Khurram Sher Zaman, a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf lawmaker, moved an amendment to delete the particular sub-section from the bill. However, the amendment was defeated through majority vote by the treasury lawmakers.

Speaking on his amendment, the PTI lawmaker said that all over the world, there were specific lanes defined on roads reserved only for emergency vehicles, including ambulances, while there was no such concept in Pakistan. He added that since there were no such defined lanes for emergency vehicles in the country, such a provision should not be present in the bill.

Zaman further said that there were no gadgets given to the traffic police, which could be used to accurately monitor the speed of such emergency vehicles. Drivers of ambulance services mostly do not have driving licences, therefore, they should not be given immunity from the law in case they get involved in any road accident, he added.

According to Zaman, drivers of ambulances were mostly seen doing reckless driving on the roads and no one could say with surety as to when these emergency vehicles were being genuinely used for emergency purposes and when they were being used for other unauthorised jobs. “For instance, police mobile vans are seen transporting sacrificial animals for officials during the days of Eidul Azha. As such, the use of police vehicles certainly doesn’t constitute an emergency purpose,” he said.

The bill defines an ambulance as a vehicle designed or adapted primarily for the purpose of carrying the sick, wounded or invalid persons or animals. It also defines an emergency vehicle as one used solely as a law enforcement vehicle, fire brigade or ambulance to relieve distress.

On the suggestion of Opposition Leader Khawaja Izharul Hassan, an amendment in the bill was passed by the house deleting a provision in this definition which stated that an ambulance should be registered with the relevant health authority.

Hassan said that ambulance services in the four provinces were not being run by the government but by charitable organisations so it was unjust for these charities to go through the hassle of registration of their ambulances with the government authorities.

Moreover, defining the duties of citizens, a sub-section of Section-3 states, “A driver of a vehicle or any other person, to the extent practicable, shall slow down, move to the left, or otherwise make all possible efforts to give clear uninterrupted and safe passage to an emergency rescue or an ambulance with active warning lights and sirens.”

Govt accused of campaigning

As the house passed the Sindh Regularization of Contingent Paid or Work-Charged Employees of Left Bank Outfall Drainage Bill-2018, the opposition leader alleged that the provincial government was regularising the contract employees of the LBOD project to run its campaign for the forthcoming general elections.

Hassan further said that the regularisation of contractual employees of the Irrigation Department towards the tail end of the five-year tenure of the Sindh government meant that it was attempting to solicit votes from these employees and their families.

He said that the government should not show haste in passing the law as the concerned lawmakers should be given time to properly read the bill meant to regularise services of such a large number of contractual employees.