ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Road safety will be the theme of the World Health Day celebrations across the world on April 7, 2004.

According to an announcement, different organizations would host events to help raise awareness about the road traffic injuries, their consequences and enormous costs to the society. These organizations would also contribute towards creating awareness about how to prevent injuries by adhering to road and traffic rules.

A recent study suggested that the road traffic injuries were responsible for 1.2 million lives of men, women and children around the world each year, while thousands were injured on our roads, some of whom become permanently disabled.

The vast majority of such deaths or injuries occur in the developing countries where scores of pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and users of public transport, many of whom would never be able to afford their own motor vehicle, are killed.

A lot of knowledge currently exists to take action on a number of fronts to prevent needless deaths and disabilities caused by lack of road safety and the immense loss and suffering they cause.

Many programmes and policies also exist to prevent road traffic crashes like strategies to address rates of speed, promotion of helmets and seat belts, other restraints and greater visibility of people while walking and cycling.

Unfortunately in countries like Pakistan education to inculcate traffic sense among the people has never been given due importance, which is evident from the fact that wearing a helmet while riding on a motorcycle and using of seat belts in vehicles is seldom adhere to.

Experts have time and again called for establishing a transport safety board to maintain safety record of all modes of transports.

They have also suggested conducting specific studies on safety issues and investigating all major accidents, but in vain.

Need to introduce road safety education courses for drivers and pedestrians has always been felt but practically no policy has ever been devised to make it mandatory to introduce education about road safety in the schools of the country.

A concerted effort on the part of governments and their partners to improve road safety can make a world of difference.

Experts believe that if the current trend in road safety was not checked by suitable counter measurers, road accidents with serious injuries and sudden deaths would continue to happen in countries like ours.

One of the major shortcomings in traffic management system in Pakistan is lack of data on road accidents that is necessary for proper enforcement of traffic rules and to form clear policy priorities.

Such data provides the objective and scientific basis for determining the kind of remedial measures most likely to be effective, and without collection of the accident data, the safety of road network could not be assessed and monitored.