As many as 65 people have lost their lives in 62 road accidents in the current year in Islamabad, but the Capital Development Authority (CDA) has yet not given practical shape to its Road Safety Audit (RSA) project, which aims at limiting the risk of road accidents.
“Due to faulty engineering of roads, the ratio of fatal and non-fatal road accidents is increasing in the city, as in the current year 65 people were killed in 62 fatal accidents, and 64 were injured in 62 non-fatal accidents in the city,” an official told Pakistan Today.
The official said due to an increased number of fatal accidents, the traffic engineering directorate prepared a project regarding introduction of RSA of all roads in the city in order to improve safety. A request was also sent to the authority’s finance wing for release of funds but due to a lack of attention given by the CDA, high-ups of the finance wing has yet to release funds, he said. He said there was no mechanism for the safety evaluation of roads at the moment. The traffic engineering directorate also planned on hiring a foreign consultant for the execution of the project, as this was the first time it was being introducing.
The RSA was necessary as it would inculcate safety consciousness among CDA’s highway engineers, he added.
He said the RSA would help improve and rehabilitate existing roads and in their maintenance. The official said the RSA would also help reduce long-term costs of projects. It would also spread awareness regarding safe-design practice by all involved in the planning, design construction, and maintenance of roads, he said. The RSA would make engineers aware of the implications of their designs on safety, while also assist the design engineers in avoiding simple pitfall in future designs, he said.