ISLAMABAD: According to police records, more than 60,000 people died in road accidents over the last 11 years.

The figure is based on the cases which were reported to the police.

This was stated by road safety expert Mohammad Shahid while speaking to the participants of Disaster Management Exhibition and Conference, organised by National Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Network.

If the number of unreported road accidents were taken into account the figure might have crossed 100,000, he told the participants.

The conference was presided over by Minister for National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar.

Mr Shahid said that road accidents could cause long-term stress, leading to depression, anxiety and sleep problems.

He said that steps should be taken to make the roads safer and to decrease the deaths because every year almost 20,000 to 25,000 persons fell victims to accidents.

It is pertinent to mention that according to the World Health Organization report (published in 2013) road accidents will become the fifth major cause of deaths by 2030.

Mostly children, pedestrians, cyclists and aged people face traffic accidents, he added.

While talking to Dawn, Mr Shahid said human fault caused 95 per cent road accidents.

Traffic rules likely to be made part of primary schools syllabus by next two years

The traffic accidents are the leading cause of deaths among people aging from 15 to 29 in Pakistan, he added.

“The main reasons for road accidents include poor vehicle condition, ignoring traffic rules and instruction marks on roads, signal breaking as well as speeding, wheelie, use of mobile while driving, wrong overtaking, use of drug, wrong parking, overloading and bad road condition,” he said.

He maintained, “80 per cent people do not follow the safety cautions like fastening seat-belts or wearing helmets, which results into serious injuries,” he said. “Traffic safety rules should be taught in schools,” he said.

“National Highway and Motorway Police has written letters to all provinces that Traffic Safety Rules should be included in the curriculum and hopefully it will become part of syllabus in next two years,” he said.

Published in Dawn January 22nd , 2015

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