KARACHI: Nazim okays revival of KTC driving institute
KARACHI, April 27: The City Nazim, Niamatullah Khan, has approved the revival of the KTC Drivers Training Institute, lying closed for several years, so that training can be imparted to drivers in road safety. This was stated by the District Officer Road Safety, Zafar Ehsan, while speaking at the National Institute of Labour Administration Training (NILAT) on Wednesday.
He said about 600 people died in traffic accidents every year in Karachi and that most of these accidents were caused by buses, minibuses and coaches.
By imparting training to commercial drivers it would help in reducing traffic accidents, the DO said.
Citing the example of Saudi Arabia, Mr Zafar said there was a need for strict enforcement of traffic laws to control accidents.
He said on the directive of the Sindh governor, 2005 was being observed as ‘Road Safety Year’. He asked the radio, television and private companies and organisations to launch programmes for promoting road safety.
The DO Road Safety told participants that the city government was working on promoting education for safety against traffic accidents with limited resources, adding that the amount of Rs0.3 million allocated for the purpose for 2005 was too meagre.
He said multinational companies and transport organisations would have to come forward for a road safety drive.
According to him, there were at present 250 speed breakers on city’s 32 major roads, 150 of which were dangerous and a major source of accidents to motorcyclists.
Every year, he said, 51 per cent of pedestrians become victims of accidents, while on an average one pedestrian died in a road accident daily in Karachi.
He informed that the city government had chalked out a plan for constructing 31 overhead bridges and zebra crossings at 100 places for pedestrians. Besides, 470 shelters would be constructed for commuters.
Zafar Ahsan said there were 1.5 million vehicles running in Karachi, with a daily increase of 175 vehicles.
He told the meeting that zebra crossing was the right of pedestrians, but most drivers deprived people of that right, and such drivers essentially needed road safety education.
He said the Transport and Communication Department had selected 31 plots of one to 15 acres in various parts of Karachi for setting up terminals of local buses, while the construction of a terminal had already started in Surjani Town.
For inter-city buses, he said, terminals would be constructed at the RCD, Super and National highways, adding that work on the terminal at the RCD Highway was under way.
The D.O. Road Safety said the city government’s Transport Department was publishing road safety posters and leaflets. A documentary film on road safety had also been prepared by the transport department.—APP
