PESHAWAR, May 11: Engineering faults and inability of the traffic police to manage traffic on the Indus Highway and other main routes in the NWFP have made road journey unsafe, officials said.
Despite the increase in traffic flow and frequent accidents on the Indus Highway, the National Highway Authority has not handed over the highway to the National Highway and Motorway Police. At present, all highways are being controlled by the local police who use outdated methods by putting up iron barricades on roads and ticketing vehicles for speeding and violating other traffic laws.
A senior police official conceded that travelling on major roads, particularly the Indus Highway and the Hassanabdal-Mansehra route, had become risky owing to their bad condition, poor designing and speeding by some motorists. He said the traffic police did not have the required equipment to handle the situation.
Figures compiled by the traffic police headquarters show that about 2,147 accidents had occurred on main highways in the province in 2005 in which 741 people had been killed and 3,378 injured. The number of accidents in the Peshawar district has also increased and according to official data, 117 people lost their lives and 649 were injured in accidents last year.
Officials said the number of accidents on the Indus Highway was on the rise due to reckless driving and absence of the police force.
“Risks can’t be minimised without removing engineering faults in the Indus Highway and other routes,” said Syed Imtiaz Altaf, assistant inspector general of police (traffic).
A Chinese company had built the main highway, linking Karachi with Peshawar and other parts of the NWFP.
Sources said the NHA had allocated Rs1 billion for removing engineering faults in the Indus Highway.
In the first phase, an official said, the two-kilometre-long Spina More (turn), about 40 kilometres northeast of Karak, would be removed.
“The NHA has identified all black spots on the Indus Highway, which are being redesigned,” he said, adding that the NHA had no plan to hand over N-55 (Indus Highway) to the National Highway and Motorway police in near future, because of lack of resources.
Mr Altaf told Dawn that the police department had requested the NWFP government to provide speed monitoring equipment, including a radar system, to manage traffic.
“This is not possible for police to physically monitor and control such a huge traffic flow, unless the government provides modern equipment,” he said. “The traffic police require seven units, including laser units and a radar system, for the road network in the province to effectively monitor traffic,” he maintained.
He said the government was yet to release Rs8 million required for purchasing the equipment.