KARACHI: Public transport responsible for most fatal road accidents
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, Jan 15: Commercial drivers operating buses, minibuses, coaches, trucks and water-tankers kill more than 50 per cent of the victims of traffic accidents on Karachi roads every year, the DIG Traffic, Saud Ahmad Mirza informed a gathering of journalists and corporate leaders on Wednesday.
In the last ten years, more than 6,300 people have been killed in road accidents in the city. More than 1,600 of them have been killed by commercial drivers only. Number of those maimed for life time is beyond anyone’s counting.
Giving a detailed presentation and an in-depth analysis of the accidents during 1993 to 2002, at a function organized by the international oil company, Shell Pakistan to launch ‘Road Safety Week’ at Karachi Press Club, the DIG said: “unlike many cities, traffic accidents in Karachi have a political dimension.”
Mr Saud was blunt and straight in his presentation but did not elaborate much on the political aspect of the accidents in Karachi which he just touched casually. But he was obviously referring to the ethnic dimension of traffic accidents in Karachi with an oblique reference to Bushra Zaidi, a young girl student of Sir Syed Girls College who was crushed to death by a minibus IN Nazimabad in 1986. Her death had triggered off a series of ethnic riots in the West and Central districts claiming lives of several scores of people. Till this day, Karachi remains a hostage to transport and land mafias.
But the DIG did not mince words to blame “corrupt practices of transport mafias, which force their drivers to do maximum trips in a minimum time.” He spoke of a token system being practised by minibus and coach operators under which time keepers maintain a strict vigil to ensure that drivers take up 11 to 12 two-way trips instead of the normal six or seven rounds.
He said that the traffic police and city government had managed to bring a temporary end to this practice early last year when transport-owners observed strike on two occasions. However, after a month or two, the mafia resumed the practice.
“The average age of public transport vehicles in Karachi is 17 years” the DIG went on recounting the pathetic condition of public transport in Pakistan’s biggest city, industrial and commercial hub that generates almost 70 per cent of country’s tax resources. He described the condition of public transport vehicles in Karachi as worst as compared to all other parts of the country.
Mr Saud, however, had a word of sympathy for the commercial drivers who, he pointed out, had no rights and job protection.
“There is no trade union to protect the rights of commercial drivers, enforce a working schedule and get them social security benefits,” he said.
Giving figures, the DIG said that 623 traffic accidents claimed 653 lives last year. In the last ten years, the highest number of fatalities — 702 people — occurred in 652 traffic accidents during 1996.
Minibuses are the main killers let loose on Karachi roads. They were involved in 18.42 per cent of road accidents last year, followed by trucks (15.22 per cent) buses (13.71 per cent) and water tankers (6.47 per cent)
Another heart-rending feature of traffic accidents in Karachi is that almost 10 per cent of those involved in accidents appeared to be “hit and run” vehicles. “This manifest growing callousness and dehumanization in the city,” the DIG remarked.
Pedestrians remain the principal victims of the road accidents in the metropolis reflecting the total indifference of the city administrators and traffic managers towards the citizens. In the year 2000, as many as 320 pedestrians lost their lives whereas in 2001, as many as 322 pedestrians were killed and during the last year, 370 pedestrians were left dead on roads by the killer vehicles.
“The pedestrians have virtually no rights in this city,” the DIG remarked and said that giant vehicles used to pass through the most congested parts of the city causing traffic hazards. He also mentioned that the city lacked adequate subways or overhead bridges, pelican and zebra crossings, etc.
The only consolation news for the audience of road safety seminar was that India outnumbers Pakistan so far as a fatalities ratio per 10,000 vehicles is concerned. The ratio in India is 25.57 per cent as against 18.69 per cent in Pakistan.
Ejaz Ahmad Khan and Iqtidar Siddiqui of Shell Pakistan briefed the audience about the road safety initiates taken by the company.
“We engaged psychologists to give proper counselling to the drivers” Mr Siddiqui said adding that 242 of them were also given spectacles after eye-testing.
Though, the seminar was informative, the data and figures were just lifeless numbers. None of the speakers touched on the socio-economic aspect and human tragedy angle of road accidents which have eliminated countless young students, doctors, engineers, office workers, etc.
Till 1988, when the PPP took over, there was a government policy to give Rs100,000 as compensation to bereaved of those falling victim of accident or some other tragedies even like snake-bite. For no reason, the PPP government had suspended this scheme and neither it nor any other party ever came out with a better alternative as was promised.
