LAHORE - A 40-year-old man was crushed to death when a mini-truck ran over him at Multan Road. Police said on Tuesday that the man, identified as Jamshaid, was crossing the road near Thokar Niaz Baig when a mini-truck ran over him, killing him on the spot. The search for the escaped driver was continued by the police.
Traffic experts and road safety researchers have been setting alarms bells ringing over the rise in road mishaps across Pakistan, where thousands of people lost their lives in fatal road accidents every year.
Reputedly,  644 people were killed and 7,641 injured in different road accidents in 2013 in the federal capital. “Unfortunately, the number surpassed in June 2014 as everyday accident reports indicate fatal road accidents with loss of life,” a senior official of the National Highways and Motorways (NH&MP) said.
Experts say that testing and licensing authorities must follow the standard procedures while testing and issuing driving permits and licences. Those found driving without licence must be severely punished. Similarly, owners of mechanically unfit and defective vehicles plied on roads should be heavily fined and their vehicles be declared off road for considerable period of time.
 “Monitoring mechanism should be made transparent and those involved in mad-driving be caught before they end up in accidents,” they suggested.
Unfortunately, no fatality reduction target has been set by the government. Therefore, tangible efforts should be made to make roads safer for the motorists, the experts added.  The Global Status Report on Road Safety 2013 published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared road accidents in Pakistan a leading cause of death for young people aged 15 to 29.
According to road safety researchers, road accidents are unwarranted, undesirable, and unjustifiable mishaps which can be controlled through strict observance of rules, good driving behavior, proper education and enhanced level of awareness about hazards of accidents, traffic rules, respect for law and fellow humans, innocent victims, sense of responsibility and rewards and punishment.
The Lahore traffic police chief said that the focus should be on traffic symbols, single-person-accidents, cyclists, motor cyclists, pedestrians, children, elderly, novice driver, donkey carts, driver violating speed limits, over loading, defective vehicles and sick.
He also recommended that the government and all concerned departments should ensure improvement in the road infrastructure, creating road safety hazard in the country.  The citizens must realise the losses and damages inflicted by road accidents and wake up from slumbering negligence to adopt measures to enhance road safety and prevent road accidents, experts concluded.