November 20, 2003

Karachi is home to 13 million and just about everyone is fed up with our traffic system, or lack thereof. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the traffic in the city has collapsed due to corruption and poor traffic education on part of not only the government but private institutions as well.

Karachi has 8,000 kilometres of roads, out of which only 100 kilometres or 1.24 per cent have lane marking and only about 800 kilometres or 10 per cent of the total network have any pavements.

The number of vehicles, including motorcycles, cars/jeeps, rickshaws, taxis, buses/minibuses and trucks using the road network is around 1.11 million daily. Around 4 million vehicles are registered in the entire country, of them 1.2 million are registered in the city.

The number of commuters using various routes around the city has been recorded at about 4 million daily, but there is no alternate mass transit system so far to facilitate a smooth flow of vehicular traffic. Almost the same roads are used by around 13,000 heavy and light vehicles daily that is by cars, jeeps, taxis, etc., this is why traffic jams have become a routine matter in the city.

The working strength of the traffic police is 2,585 against around 1.2 million vehicles. Thus there is a ratio of one constable to every 408 vehicles and one traffic constable to every 5,029 people (according to a 13 million population), this shows that the traffic police is short staffed and even those on duty cannot be said to be trained enough to regulate traffic effectively.

The drivers of passenger coaches, particularly minibuses are mostly uneducated, uncivilized and unacquainted to the routes of the city. Therefore, during the last 10 years some 5,867 fatal road accidents occurred in which 6,347 innocent citizens were killed. In 2002 fatal road accidents claimed 653 lives, which include 370 pedestrians, 44 paddle cyclists, 127 motorcyclists and 112 other road users.

It is also important to note that out of 370 pedestrians killed in road accidents, 23 per cent were of 1 to 12 years, 20 per cent of 25 to 36 years, 16 per cent of 13 to 24 years, 16 per cent of 37 to 48 years, 14 per cent of 49 to 60 years and 11 per cent of 61 and above.

Out of a total of 1,189 road accidents, fatal and nonfatal, 219 were committed by mini buses, 163 by buses, 135 by coaches, 181 by trucks and 77 by water tankers. These figures show that mini bus and bus drivers are reckless.

According to traffic police road accidents occur in the city for the following reasons: encroachments, dilapidated roads, poor traffic engineering, flouting of KBCAs bye-laws (reserved parking spaces have been converted into shops, extra floors are allowed to be constructed, commercial activities are allowed in residential areas), lack of lane marking, lack of an alternate transport system, car show rooms (they park their cars along the main road), Illegal inter-city/inter-province bus terminals (there are 197 in the city), excavation of roads by various civic agencies without coordination with the traffic police and improper traffic advertisement boards are some of the major causes of accidents.

The traffic system can be improved if drivers are trained in the government training centres, which the traffic police do not allow the transport department to operate. Finally, traffic police must be given proper training, drivers must pass the driving test and hold valid licenses, serious action should be taken against those caught violating traffic rules and regulations. Otherwise, the day is not far off when there will be a 24-hour traffic jam in this great metropolis.

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)