WHILE on my way to DHA to drop off a friend, I noticed a family of five: a couple with three little children on a motorbike, and it sent shivers through my spine. Will they make it home safely?

The children were aged about one, six and three. The mother was holding the baby girl with the six year old girl sitting ahead of her, while the father was on the front seat with the three-year old boy sitting in front of him. He was seconds away from dozing off.

I wanted to reach out to the family and tell them how risky travelling with three little children on a motorbike could be without any safety measures, but then who was I to direct their life decisions without presenting them with a cheaper and safer alternative?

The government should invest in affordable and good quality public transport on an urgent basis so that the thousands of impoverished families with no alternative to motorbikes do not meet the unlikely fate of losing their children.

All children deserve safe and good quality travel. Therefore, family travel on motorbikes should be banned and a better and cheaper alternative introduced.

Mashal Arbab

Islamabad

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2020