

Road accidents in Punjab reach alarming level since 2004

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LAHORE: At least 36,000 people lost their lives while over 3.3 million others were injured in road accidents across Punjab, according to the 17-year official data of Rescue 1122.

The data further revealed that over 2.88 million road incidents also left 3.3 million people injured including 2.7 million (82 per cent) males and 0.67 million (18 per cent) females in all 36 districts of the province since October 2004 till June 2021.

However, a rescue official told Bol News that the actual number of deaths and injuries might be much higher as many such patients must have been transported to hospitals by other rescue services.

“Similarly, some of the injured might have been taken to hospitals by their loved ones in their private vehicles,” he explained.

According to the rescue official, the 36,000 deaths only include people who were killed on the accident site whereas around 2 million people out of the total 3.3 million injured were rescued but were considered critical.

“God knows how many succumbed to their injuries while being transported to the hospitals and during or post-treatment process because of the nature of their wounds,” he further explained.

The official data also highlights that around 2.2 million (78.5 per cent) out of the total of 2.88 million road accidents involved motorbikes.

Similarly, 366,663 (10.7 per cent) traffic accidents involved rickshaws, 56,002 involved buses, 316,781 involved cars, 90,100 involved trucks and the rest involved tractor trolleys or vans.

Moreover, among the total number of people injured, more than half (over 1.7 million) were aged between 21 to 40 years. Similarly, over 2,700 people were killed while wheeling.

According to the data, around 1.2 million road accidents occurred because of over speeding, 412,000 due to U-turns or wrong turns.

Among the total injuries reported during the past 17 years, 59,807 people received spinal injuries, 359,495 head injuries, 743,276 received single and multiple injuries whereas 2,205,786 people received minor injuries.

Furthermore, the data revealed that most road accidents took place in Lahore with 695,676 accidents recorded in the city leaving 3,351 people dead and 754,111 injured.

Faisalabad with 2,863 reported deaths stood second, while Multan and Gujranwala follow with 2,397 and 1,821 deaths respectively.

The data further revealed that out of the total 90,682 road accidents reported with under age drivers across the province, 62,809 (70 per cent) belonged to Lahore.

Punjab Director General Rescue 1122 Dr Rizwan Naseer, talking to Bol News, said bikers needed to learn about road safety as majority of the road accidents occurred due to rash driving.

“We need to control the speed of bikes by limiting their speed up to 30 kmph,” he cautioned.

According to DG Rescue 1122, the number of deaths occurred in road accidents across Punjab are much higher as compared to the deaths that took place in terrorism incidents.

“This is a huge number but unfortunately people don’t care about road safety. Our traffic and local police should take strict actions against those who violate traffic rules and regulations,” Dr Rizwan Naseer added.


Republic Desk

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