KARACHI, July 28: Almost 1.2 million people are killed in road accidents each year around the world and 80 per cent of these accidents occur on the roads of the developing world.

This was disclosed by the chief executive of the Institute of Safety and Human Factors (ISHF), Captain Amjad H. Faizi.

He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Road sense for road safety’ organised by the ISHF here on Saturday. The aim of the event was to create awareness on road safety among the representatives of various organisations.

Stressing the need for developing road sense to avoid casualties, he deplored that even people who had the licence did not know about the concept of ‘right of way’.

Explaining the right of way to more than 30 participants of the seminar he said that it was very sad to know that with almost 400 million cars on the road, not many were aware of the very concept.

He said that it was basically to understand the rights of the various kinds of vehicles and even pedestrians on road.

“We should know what lane is meant for what vehicle and how using the wrong signs such as indicators and headlights could not only land the driver in trouble but can harm many others”, he said.

The ISHF principal, Air Commodore (retd) Rashid A. Bhatti, in his presentation highlighted the importance of proper training of commercial drivers. “If the other driver has made a wrong move, one should not lose one’s cool and courtesy demands we make up for the other driver’s mistake in order to avoid any accident”, he said.

Mr Bhatti informed the audience that though only 30 per cent of the cars were seen on the roads at night, 50 per cent of the accidents nonetheless occurred at night. He stressed the need for taking precautionary measures to avoid such accidents, including regular eye tests.

Ahmed Parekh, who lost his son and his driver in a car and container collision, said that it was the need of the hour to pay heed to road safety. Rear Admiral M.A. Khan praised the efforts of the ISHF. Certificates were distributed among the participants at the end of the seminar.