Karachi Administrator Hashim Raza Zaidi has said that Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) was taking every possible measure to control traffic accidents in Karachi and it has also established Road Safety Audit Task Force to point out risky locations in the city.
Addressing a meeting on traffic accidents, he said that Transport and Communication Department should make efforts to curb the rising number of traffic accidents.
It was decided in the meeting that “Road Safety Programme” would be introduced in schools. Children would be provided with practical training in terms of traffic risks and in this connection road safety parks would be built in Bagh-e-Ibn-e-Qasim, Safari Park and Karachi Zoo so that children could learn road safety rules while playing.
It was also decided in the meeting that the programme of UNO titled “Decade of action for road safety 2010-20” would be implemented and “Road Safety Week” with the collaboration of Road Traffic Injury Research Centre would be celebrated in May this year in which various programmes for providing information about road safety and creating awareness among citizens would be held.
Hashim Raza said that the Transport Department should maintain contact with traffic police to enable people to understand the benefits of following traffic rules.
Furthermore, it was decided that streetlights would be installed on roads having blind spots. Moreover, the blind spots would be removed and the causes of traffic accidents at different locations, including Sharah-e-Faisal, Expressway, MA Jinnah Road, Rashid Minhas Road, Liaquatabad and Korangi Industrial Area would be removed.
On the occasion, Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Centre presented their report about traffic accidents and informed about statistics of traffic accidents, the condition of traffic risks and the combined efforts of KMC and Traffic Injury Research Centre in this regard.
Road Traffic Injury Research and Prevention Centre Principal Investigator Dr Rasheed Juma said that this centre was collecting statistics of traffic accidents from five big hospitals of the city and the efforts of Road Safety Audit Task Force for curbing traffic accidents in the city were worth admiring.
Senior Director Muhammad Ather informed about the performance of Road Safety Audit Task Force and also provided the details of Road Safety Educational Programmes in schools.
Deputy Commissioner Central Dr Saifur Rehman, former IG Traffic Police Asad Jahangir, Prof Dr Meer Shabbar Ali, HRM Senior Director Shoaib Waqar and officers from Traffic Police, Motorway Police and KMC attended the meeting.
