Session on defensive driving techniques

Islamabad: The National Highway & Motorway Police (NH&MP) in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) organised an awareness session on the ‘Defensive Driving Techniques’ at Chamber House to sensitise the business community on the importance of road safety and compliance of traffic rules in order to avoid road accidents.

Giving a presentation to the business community on defensive driving techniques, Muhammad Asif, inspector, Licensing Authority, National Highway & Motorway Police said that on average 15,000-16,000 people in Pakistan died annually due to traffic accidents and this figure was many times more than the loss of lives due to terrorism in the country.

He said this situation necessitated enhanced sensitization and awareness in the public about the importance of road safety measures and strict compliance of traffic rules in order to reduce the ratio of road accidents. He said with the efforts of Motorway Police, roads accidents were reducing, but there was lot of scope for further improvement on this account.

Muhammad Asif said that according to a WHO report, annually, over 1.2 million people died in the world due to road accidents while in Pakistan reported traffic accidents caused annual casualties of 7,500-8,000 while the average annual loss including reported accidents ranged from 15,000 to 16,000. He said that according to research studies, 90 per cent accidents in Pakistan occurred due to the mistake of drivers and emphasized that drivers should fully comply with traffic rules to minimize the traffic accidents as death of one person affected the lives of whole family. He asked the business community to cooperate in spreading the awareness of traffic rules for educating maximum people.

Speaking at the occasion, M. Naveed Malik, senior vice president, ICCI said that civilized nations developed disciplined driving by ensuring strict compliance of traffic rules and emphasized that maximum people should be sensitized on defensive driving techniques in Pakistan to promote road safety and reduce accidents. He urged that traffic rules should be made part of school curricula so that youth could be educated about the benefits of disciplined driving. He lauded the initiative of National Highway & Motorway Police for creating awareness on defensive driving techniques and hoped that it would promote disciplined driving in the country.