Prof Zaman speaks on Road Safety Conference for Parliamentarians

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Prof Dr Muhammad Zaman, the founding chairman of Department of Sociology, was a saner voice in the “Road Safety Conference for Parliamentarians” that concluded at Serena Hotel on Thursday. Parliamentarians from Pakistan and different countries, including the President and the Senate chairman, attended the conference and expressed their opinion. We talked to Dr Zaman to understand this issue as he is the lead researcher in coveted Grand Challenge Fund (GCF) project of the Higher Education Commission entitled Optimal Use of Available Resources: A Prototype Model for Islamabad.

Q: How do you describe the conference of parliamentarians?

I took my team to the “Road Safety Conference for Parliamentarians”. Basically, the purpose of the conference was to highlight Road Traffic Accidents (RTAs) and how measures can be taken to prevent them. The prime focus of the conference was the capacity building for effective legislation framework on road safety. Parliamentarians form Spain, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Chad, Kazakhstan, Uganda, Guinea and other countries participated in the conference.
Some of them gave latest data. For instance, a representative of Jordon highlighted that the RTAs have increased in numbers in the recent few years. He presented data showing that in every 20 minutes, a person dies in his country due to RTAs.
Similarly, the representative from Uganda addressed the conference and he highlighted that RTAs approximately claims 40 lives every day in Uganda.

Q: Road accidents are a problem, we all are well aware of. What is the solution?

Yes, the solutions are there. We are working on them. But before we discuss them, let us talk about what a parliamentarian from Spain has proposed. In Spain, 5400 people died in road accidents in 2004. In 2023, the number is negligible because of the measure taken by the country. Spain introduced heavy penalty system for road abusers. This is one of the proposals we are advocating for through our project.

Q 3: What has Pakistan to tell the world on this account? Do we have some experts to highlight this matter at such forums?

Frankly, it is a tricky question. You have seen these presentations. Bureaucrats, retired police bosses and the same people responsible to make our roads death traps did not miss any opportunity to present themselves as a solution.

Q: What is the magnitude of problem we are dealing with?

The magnitude is alarming. It was shocking that every 25 second a person dies due to RTAs in the world. Now come to Pakistan, only in Punjab, out of 123 deaths daily reported in Punjab Emergency Service, 14 are reported linked with RTAs. This number is second highest after deaths due to medical reasons.

Q: Roads in urban centers are well policed. Does it make a difference?

There is a lot needed to be done on this account. The official data about RTAs in Pakistan confirms that there are 27,000 deaths per years due to RTAs.
If you talk about road, the 850-kilometer road from Quetta to Karachi is called Killer Road.
Karachi is the largest city and has the highest traffic fatalities in Pakistan. But in the last seven month (till January 2023), in Karachi there have been 23,250 fines on road traffic violations. Up to 50 electric vehicles (EVs) are running in Karachi at the present time.
But There is no single traffic signal in Quetta. If we look at overall picture, we waste 55% of our GDP on RTAs.
There is 47 billion monetary loss every year because of RTAs in Pakistan.

Q: You have spent a long time abroad studying and researching. Tell us how have they made their roads safer.

I mostly stayed in Germany though I have been part of research groups working in Scandinavian countries, considered the safest in the world.
In Sweden, the Parliament introduced Vision Zero Model and it has helped the country to reduce the number of death due to RTAs.
We in Pakistan need to have mobile application to trace the speed of vehicles for over speeding.
There should be a standard agency for all road safety related issues like licensing, challan etc.

Q: What does your study recommend for Islamabad?

My research project is going on. It is basically team work. Experts from QAU, LUMS, NUST, IIUI and other leading universities of the country are on the project team. One of our recommendations was to utilize the available buses instead of purchasing more to crowd our roads. There are over 1000 buses in Islamabad. Most of them are owned by universities, colleges and schools. The city needs 300 buses to cope with the needs of its 3-million-strong population. If a pool of these buses is made, it will save resources and solve the road security problem to a great extent. In addition, it will also reduce pollution levels.
Building more roads and buying more buses are not a solution. They at best compound the already complex problem. But the city managers are not willing to do it because of many reasons. We appeal to the Prime Minister and other relevant authorities to please find the solutions that are available to them. Winding roads and shining buses are not a solution

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