PESHAWAR, April 7: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday stressed the need for abiding by traffic rules to reduce road accidents in the country. The seminar on 'Road safety and traffic accidents' was held at the Khyber Teaching Hospital by the World Health Organization to mark theWorld Health Day.

Health Director-General Dr Jalilur Rehman asked the people to follow traffic rules, fasten seat-belts and wear helmets while driving to minimize the losses caused by accidents.

National Highway Authority Director Shaukat Hayat said the NHA had built new roads, signboards, checkpoints, U-turns, service roads, underpasses and overhead bridges, dualized the GT Road and removed encroachments to ensure smooth traffic flow and prevent accidents. He said the authority's mission was better engineering, education ofthe stake-holders and enforcement of the relevant laws.

He said the authority had launched a campaign to educate drivers and its officials visited schools to teach children about road safety and laws. He said the efforts had reduced traffic accidents drastically in threeyears.

He said appropriate salaries of the staff could improve their performance. A traffic police official said cars, buses, tongas, carts, animals and pedestrians moving on the road were part of traffic and they needed to be regulated because they were prone to accidents if they did not follow the rules.

He said road maintenance, awareness about rules, better vehicle design and maintenance and making and enforcement of traffic laws could play an important part in the reduction of traffic-related fatalities.

WHO Emergency Medical Officer Dr Quaid Saeed emphasized that road safety was a public health issue. He said the losses due to accidents could be prevented if appropriate measures were taken for road safety. Public Health Director Dr Mohammed Zaheen also spoke.