A road accident is not just a crash of metal but also a crash of dreams and hopes. According to the latest WHO data published in 2020, road traffic accident deaths in Pakistan reached 28,170, or 1.93% of total deaths. The age-adjusted death rate of 15.18 per 100,000 people ranks Pakistan #95 in the world. After 2020, there was a great surge in accidents. As a healthcare worker at the Dow University of Health Sciences, I have seen more than 20 cases of road traffic accidents regularly. These are the patients who are lucky to reach the hospitals, but what about those who have lost their lives at the moment? Many young people lost their lives just because of road accidents. Sometimes people help the victim of a road traffic accident by shifting him or her into the ambulance, but due to the traffic, the victim won’t be able to survive. There should be specific roads dedicated to the ambulance because if a person is in the ambulance, this means there is an emergency.
People, especially on the National Highway, are crossing the roads while vehicles are moving. This shows a lack of accountability because what would you expect when a vehicle with a speed of 150 km/h will stop for you? Of course not, and the other option is that they will elope after hitting you.
I witnessed the accident where the car hit the bike and ran away. This thing seems normal to us, but the lady who was the victim was bleeding profusely. At that very moment, we called the ambulance, and the lady kept saying, “Ya Allah, how will you take care of me”. These words are still echoing in my ears: people don’t have that super kind of financial freedom that supports them in these emergencies. The lady was shifted to the civil hospital.
Government tertiary hospitals are supposed to help the Karachi people, but they are incapable of accommodating every single patient. Karachi is among the most populated cities in the world, and we hardly have 3–4 tertiary hospitals to support the people. Or even less than this. The fees of private hospitals are very high because we all know that health and education are the two most expensive things in the world; hence, both are necessary.
Road traffic accident (RTA) fatalities account for a significant number of unnatural deaths in Pakistan. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately 1.35 million individuals die each year as a result of road traffic crashes, and 93% of the world’s road traffic accident (RTA) fatalities occur in lower-middle-income countries, even though they have only 60% of the total vehicles in the world. In a 2018 report, the WHO estimated that in Pakistan, RTAs result in 14.3 deaths per 100,000 people. which makes RTA fatalities an important public health issue that needs to be addressed immediately.
Reasons for Road Accidents:
Distracted driving
The leading cause of car accidents is not a drunk driver, speeding, or running a red light. Distracted drivers are the leading cause of car accidents in the United States. A distracted driver is a driver who takes their eyes off the road to talk on the phone, send a text message, or eat food.
Excessive speeding
In Pakistan, many drivers disregard the speed limit and exceed it by 10, 20, and even 30 mph. Speed kills, and exceeding the speed limit is a sure way to cause a car collision. The quicker someone drives, the slower their reaction time is if they need to avoid an accident.
Ignoring stop signs
Stop signs should never be ignored, yet when they are, major traffic accidents occur. Thousands of road accidents occur each year as a result of one driver failing to stop at a stop sign.
Young drivers
Unfortunately, in Pakistan, youngsters aren’t always known for being cautious. When young drivers get behind the wheel, they don’t always know what to do, and their lack of experience leads to car accidents.
Unsafe lane shifts
Furthermore, improper lane changes by vehicles frequently result in a traffic accident. Use turn signals, check blind spots, and always advance cautiously into the next lane to avoid an unnecessary traffic accident.
Driving in the wrong direction
Everyone has mistakes in judgment, but when you’re behind the wheel, those confused instincts can be dangerous. Drivers may believe they are making a regular right turn when, in fact, they are on a one-way street in the opposite direction.
Incorrect turns
People have stop signs, turn signals, and lanes allocated for turning right or left rather than straight because when vehicles disregard the rules of the road, road accidents frequently occur.
Blown tyres
Most Pakistani motorways are covered with the dispersed remains of a tyre blowout. Tyre blowouts can lead drivers to lose control of their vehicles, and they are especially hazardous for larger vehicles.
Fog
Fog isn’t the most regular weather occurrence in different parts of Pakistan, which is excellent news for road accident statistics.
The sport of street racing
Street racing, popularized in the country by the Fast and Furious film franchise, is an underground culture of fast automobiles and deadly car accidents.
These above-mentioned reasons are that they can cause road accidents and can shift the elderly person to a ventilator. I urge government officials to take care of this by creating awareness and inculcating penalties for the above-mentioned things.
