Reckless driving of unlicensed rickshaws, bikes causing accidents

PESHAWAR: The reckless driving by untrained and mostly unlicensed motorcyclists and the locally made Qingqi rickshaws not only put their own life at risk but also poses threats to the lives of general public.

More seriously, the authorities concerned have completely failed to regulate these illegal vehicles as well as the careless use of road. The authorities are least bothered even to think of planning a strategy in this respect.

The rapid increase in the number of motorcycles and several types of three-wheelers and their driving by all and sundry have been a leading cause of road accidents, which lead to deaths and injuries.

Surprisingly, none of the departments concerned have any accurate data or even approximate data of road traffic deaths and injuries. The main reason for the non-availability of data is that most of the accidents go unreported.

Also, none of the departments considers itself responsible for filing and compiling such data, which is a prerequisite for planning to regulate the mess.

Sometime very serious happening go unnoticed and the victims fail to get any justice. The much publicised “reformed” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police have also been observed as the most lethargic in dealing with such cases.

One such incident happened in Takht Bhai just a couple of days before Eid and the affected family has been waiting for justice.

Azlaan Khan, a seven-year-old grade one student, was crushed to severe injuries by a tri-wheeler in front of Dar-e-Arqam School on the main Malakand Road - an institution where he studies.

The vehicle, according to eyewitnesses, was coming in the wrong side of the road and the driver after hitting the child escaped from the scene instead of taking him to hospital.

The minor Azlaan, whose father is doing labour in a Gulf country, was rushed to the nearby Tehsil Headquarters Hospital wherefrom he was referred to Mardan Medical Complex and later to the Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar.

At the LRH, he was kept in the intensive care unit for nearly a week and he underwent several surgeries. His life was saved but he is still suffering serious abdominal complications.

The uncles of the affected child filed a report with the Takht Bhai Police Station but the police have been unable to make any arrest so far.

Interestingly, the affected family was asked to pay for “petrol” for sending the police mobile van to arrest the accused.

It has been a practice with the police stations that those who get registered FIRs are forced to deposit certain amount in the name of petrol for vehicles for conducting raids or shifting the accused from police station to jail.

In the same police station during the same week, two parties had been kept in lockup after picking up a quarrel. When they were being shifted to district jail in Mardan, which is just 15 kilometres away from the police station, an amount of Rs3000 each was taken from both the sides in the name of fuel charges as if the vehicles of police consume many times more fuel than others’ vehicles.

The family members of minor Azlaan still has pinned hopes on the police. They believe that police would arrest the actual culprit and they would get justice.