Youth involved in 61% of road accidents: 1122

The Rescue 1122 on Tuesday claimed to have responded to 132,331 emergencies related to traffic accidents, 61 percent of them involving the youth, across Punjab during year 2011.
This was disclosed in a briefing to Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Director General Dr Rizwan Naseer on the Road Traffic Crashes (RTC) data by the Research Wing of the Service at his office.
The data revealed that the younger age group (10-30 years) was frequently involved in the RTCs and accounted for 61 percent of all RTCs, followed by the age group of 30-50 years involved in 30 percent and people aged above 55 years involved in 9 percent of the total crashes.
Moreover, bikes were involved in 55 percent, cars in 15 percent, Rickshaws in 11 percent and other vehicles were involved in 19 percent RTCs.
The major causes of the accidents included over-speeding 35 percent, careless driving 34 percent and wrong turns 14 percent.
Similarly, minor injuries 60 percent, fractured bones 27 percent, head injuries 11 percent and spinal injuries 2 percent, were the major injury outcomes of these collisions.
Dr Rizwan Naseer expressed concern over the growing burden of RTCs on the Emergency Service and the involvement of younger age groups in these crashes.
He stressed on the responsibility of parents to ensure safety of their children, adding that traffic safety rules should be rigourously followed and protective gear, including helmets and seat belts should be worn.