KARACHI, March 20: The Sindh government has declared 2005 as the “year of road safety” and asked the transport department to prepare a comprehensive action plan, suggesting measures to contain road accidents and to improve the traffic management system. Well-placed sources said a meeting on traffic management and road safety programme was held at the governor’s house to discuss traffic-related problems. Sindh governor Ishratul Ibad presided over the meeting.

Mr Ibad took notice of non-compliance of his directives about short-term measures ordered during his visit to Nagan Chowrangi. He informed the meeting that 73 accidents occurred in SITE on a single spot and stressed the need for devising a comprehensive programme for improvement of road safety.

Sources said the Sindh transport minister, Adil Siddiqui, expressed concern over the delay in construction of major city roads which, he said, were creating problems in traffic management. Among many decisions taken in the meeting, it was decided that the year 2005 be declared as road safety in Sindh for which a detailed action plan would be presented by the director-general, Karachi Mass Transit Cell to the Sindh governor in the near future.

Sources said the action plan had been prepared and the presentation of the plan is likely to be made later this month. The meeting also asked the transport and communication department of the City Government to ensure collection of data on accidents and maintenance of data-base, besides its analysis as done in the past by the then Traffic Engineering Bureau.

It was also decided that short, medium and long-term remedial measures for traffic improvement be initiated without delay and failure. The meeting decided that instructions be notified that in case of any serious accident anywhere in the province, the head of department concerned should visit the spot to examine the root cause of such an accident. The DIG operations should make his all possible efforts for adequate cash compensation to the deceased’s family. The sources said that more than 500 people fall prey to reckless and negligent driving in the metropolis every year. They said buses, coaches, minibuses and trucks, which constitute less than 3.5 per cent of all registered vehicles in Karachi, were responsible for 70 to 80 per cent of all road accidents, including fatal and non-fatal.

They said the traffic police had initiated campaigns to implement traffic laws and after the campaigns, they did not nab violators of traffic rules. Smoke-emitting vehicles, adding to air and noise pollution, had been plying the road and the traffic police were a silent spectator.

They said a driver allegedly responsible for reckless driving arrested after a fatal accident was released on bail from police station as it was a bail-able offence. Whenever the traffic police make challans against public transport for violations, the transporters go on strikes and the government has to bow before the transport mafia and accept their illegitimate demands, they said.

The sources were of the view that many action plans were prepared in the past, but lack of the political will and compromises with transport mafia were among the causes of the failure of traffic management plans to streamline the traffic affairs in the city.