A couple of weeks back, I read a news item about two groups riding motorbikes, and in cars, trying to out-speed each other on a busy, congested road. They were driving their vehicles at 90 miles per hour. One motorbike rider and a car driver, out of sheer fun, honking their horns and making irritating sounds, were trying to play games with the general traffic on the road. Each one was determined not to allow the other to go ahead. One car driver, about 19 years of age, swerved across two lanes and half a dozen other cars to catch up with a bike that had cut him off a few yards back. The rider, indulged in one-wheel stunts, picked up speed to move out of sight but unfortunately lost control. Realizing the situation car drivers tried to save their friend and took a turn, but the car rammed into a roadside tree. One of the boys was killed instantly and the others were taken to a nearby hospital. They had sustained fatal injuries, but somehow survived.
It is a scene that is all too common in our country. Every year, many teenagers lose their lives because of automobile accidents.
It would be sad to note that it is mostly the teenagers who one finds involved in fatal accidents. Their reckless driving has become a highway safety problem. Many such incidents happen when young people hit the road on weekends for fun, especially during some evenings of public holidays.
The accident branch of Punjab’s traffic police has recorded many accidents in which people either got killed or sustained injuries. Their data is part of a two-month study conducted from January to February 2004 and from January to February 2005. In a report it has considered reckless driving to be responsible for the cause of 785 deaths only last year. In 2004 alone, 1,042 persons were injured and 560 lost their lives in 396 fatal and 369 in non-fatal crashes. In 2005, so far, 407 people have been killed and 923 have received injuries in 338 fatal and 346 non-fatal accidents. The Lahore traffic police conducted another study from January to March 2005 and recorded that 141 got injured and 88 died in 76 fatal and 76 non-fatal accidents.
Accidents usually occur when teenagers get distracted and try to perform different kinds of stunts. The three common things about road tragedies are: inexperience, speeding and thrill-seeking.
“Incidents of reckless driving can occur at any time and at any place. One watches teenagers out on the road for fun-seeking, believing that they are not going to harm anyone. But sometimes you prove yourself wrong. It is worth noticing that during three months from January to March 2005 our department collected about three million rupees by virtue of the ticketing system ... the amount reflects how ‘irresponsible drivers’ are people are,” says Major Faisal Hussain, SSP Traffic Police Lahore.
“The dire need is to make people aware of the rules — a majority is unaware of them. Our department’s top priority is to educate the general public, especially the parents, to make our future generation a law abiding one. The department off and on organizes traffic awareness campaigns at many institutes. The targeted group is ‘teenagers’. In this respect, we organize television and radio programmes, not to mention seminars and workshops. Special mention must be made of a campaign launched from December 2004 to March 2005, before making people bound to wear helmets while riding motorbikes from March 1.”
According to Dr Naseer Sayeed Khan, Associate Professor Psychiatry Department SIMS Services Hospital Lahore: “It is worth noticing that more and more teenagers are involved in rash driving. Basically, it is a personality trait which develops because of inadequate attention, parental negligence, peer group pressure, social upbringing and environment. One other factor is parental discord and lack of proper education. It leads to harsh behaviour which teenagers display on roads by involving themselves in life-taking stunts.
“It would be sad to note that in Pakistan there are only around 48 qualified psychiatrists teaching at different institutes. In the UK, out of the many psychiatrists, 250 are Pakistanis. In India there are a little over 7,000 psychiatrists. This indicates how much emphasis other societies lay on psychological development and educational counselling. There are innumerable cases of psychological disorder in Pakistan, but because of lack of financial grant not much substantial is done to rectify this issue,” he concludes.
Bearing these views in mind, it has to be said that it wouldn’t be a bad idea, along with some other things, to make a plan to have special katcha tracks along side different roads exclusively for fun-seekers. This will minimize, if not put an end to, the very high rate of accidents.
