KARACHI: As many as 301 people were killed and 1,533 injured in accidents on the Indus Highway, spread over 132 kilometres from Jamshoro to Sehwan, during the last three years up to August 2019. The host of causes ranged from perceived engineering faults in the highway to running of overloaded straw-carrying trucks and heavy vehicles without route permits, it emerged on Saturday.

This has been stated in a report about road traffic accidents for 2017, 2018 and 2019 up to Aug 9 submitted by Additional Inspector General (Establishment and Training), Sindh, Dr Aftab Ahmed Pathan to IGP Dr Syed Kaleem Imam.

According to the Sindh police data, 171 people were killed in the 340 accidents while 776 others were injured in which 560 vehicles were involved in 2017.

It has been stated that 268 accidents were reported in 2018 in which 111 persons were killed and 667 injured. A total of 433 vehicles were involved in the accidents.

However, in 2019 up to Aug 9, 19 persons expired while 90 others were injured in 33 accidents in which 52 vehicles were involved.

A police spokesperson said that a majority of such tragic accidents tended to occur during the urs celebrations of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

The police claimed that this year no traffic accident happened during the urs of the Sufi saint while in previous years around 60 to 70 road accidents occurred.

The police data claimed that a significant reduction in fatal accidents had emerged due to the recently set up Sindh Police Accident Analysis and Research Centre (Spaarc).

Spaarc has been established under directions of the Sindh IGP to ascertain the causes of the accidents and suggest ways to prevent them.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2019