‘Over 6,000 people die in Pakistan road accidents annually’

LAHORE Chief Traffic Police Officer BA Nasir while showing his concern on increasing death rate in road accidents worldwide has said that disorder on roads was not a sign of civilised nations.

He was addressing a ceremony held on the eve of World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims at Alhamra hall here Friday. City Traffic Officer Malik Liaqat, children of local schools and representatives of civil society were also present.

More than 6,000 people in Pakistan annually lose their lives in road mishaps. A minor care and acting upon the traffic laws can prevent countless lives, said the CCPO. He noted that road accidents occurred when the traffic rules were considered a burden.

CCPO BA Nasir expressed his satisfaction over improvement in service delivery by traffic police and said that Lahore traffic police improved 70 points in the world traffic index during the recent period.

Meanwhile, a plenary session was held to prevent road accidents at Central Police Office in Lahore. The causes of traffic accidents and steps taken for stopping the accidents were examined in detail in the session. Steps should be taken by the teams of Punjab Highway Patrol, traffic police and district police to reduce road accidents, it was decided in the meeting.

All the RPOs of the province participated through video link. The session was chaired by Additional IG PHP Zafar Iqbal. Additional IG Traffic Muhammad Farooq Mazhar was also present.

A detailed examination was conducted regarding causes of traffic accidents and the steps taken for controlling the accidents. The additional IG PHP directed the officers that special teams of PHP, traffic police and district police should be formed to check speeding and fitness of vehicles on roads. He emphasised that the fitness standard of buses, vans and others vehicles running on public routes should be checked.

He said that PHP and traffic police should ensure their strict patrolling on highways and roads in fog and smog, whereas, awareness campaign for passengers should also be continued.

The Additional IG Traffic said 60 per cent accidents occurred due to speeding and 39 per cent accidents occurred due to negligence of the drivers. He said under age, inexperienced and careless drivers should not be allowed to drive public transport and special teams should play their positive and vibrant role in this regard.