Department of Geography, KU, organized a Road Safety Awareness Walk & Seminar. The participants walked from the Silver Jubilee Gate to the Arts Auditorium.
*67 percent road accidents’ occurs due to human factors, Professor Dr Mir Shabbar Ali*
There are three major factors of traffic related road accidents and 67 percent incidents are occurred due to human errors, 28 percent road accidents are reported owing to poor infrastructure and designing and deteriorating conditions of roads while unfit vehicles have five percent shares in traffic related road accidents.
There is a dire need in further improving road’s design as our roads are not up to the standards. If, we consider all relevant components while constructing roads then we can reduce the ration of road accidents easily.
These views were expressed by the Dean, Faculty of Civil and Petroleum Engineering, NED University, Professor Dr Mir Shabbar Ali, while delivering a lecture at a seminar. The Department of Geography, University of Karachi, on Thursday arranged a road safety awareness walk and a seminar.
The DIG Traffic Police Javed Ali Mahar urged to utilize the research being conducted at varsity’s level to provide relief to masses. “A good research is meant to be useful for the society and its people rather than keeping them in libraries in book form.”
He observed that engineers should keep all aspects in mind while planning and constructing roads. He said that engineers should adopt designs which would fulfill road safety criteria to reduce traffic accidents.
Javed Mahar asked students to follow traffic rules and regulations and also encourage others to do the same. He also acknowledged the contribution and efforts of Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, KU, Dr Salman Zubair, for arranging the seminar which was aimed to educate youngsters about traffic related issues.
Umer Tafazzul, Senior Patrol Officer, Mobile Education Unit, National Highway and Motorway Police, shared that ignorance of traffic laws is also one of the major reasons of road accidents. “If, citizens follow the traffic laws then we can protect good number of human’s lives. Every person should give space to ambulances and fire tenders on roads as these emergency vehicles are supposed to reach at their destinations on time.”
Dr Salman Zubair, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, KU, who is also the road safety ambassador for universities, expressed that unfortunately, Pakistan is one of those countries which have witnessed rise in road accidents.
“As compared to small cities, major cities have highest traffic related road accidents ratio. In recent years, Karachi alone has suffered financial loss of Rs47.8 billion in road accidents.”
He pointed out that if road accident ratio did not reduce then it could become third major cause of death. The teenagers had more than five times risk to get encountered in accidents than drivers of 30 years and above, he said and added that in Karachi, average fatality age due to road accidents causalities is 29 years and around of total road accident deaths, 65 percent of youth are the victim.
Dr Salman Zubair mentioned that Pakistan rank first in Asia and 48 in the world for most road traffic accidents fatality conceiving countries whereas Karachi ranked fourth. While quoting World Health Organization 2015 Report, he said that nearly 1.2 million people die each year and 20-50 million people suffer non fatal injuries due to road crashes.
Earlier, awareness walk was arranged from the Silver Jubilee Gate till the Arts Auditorium. The participants were holding road safety messages to educate students.
