Traffic nightmare — Pakistan grapples with 24 daily fatalities, 1,101 road accidents

ISLAMABAD: An alarming trend has emerged in Pakistan, with an average of 24 people losing their lives in traffic accidents every day since 2019.

According to official data obtained by Hum Investigation Team (HIT), the country has witnessed 1,101 traffic accidents daily over the past five years.

A staggering 2 million accidents, both minor and major, have occurred during this period.

The official data reveals that 44,600 fatalities and 250,000 injuries resulted from these accidents.

Nationwide, 41,456 cases of severe accidents have been registered. Shockingly, the statistics indicate that 24 passengers succumb to traffic accidents each day.

The Hum Investigation Team gathered this data from various sources including Rescue 1122 Punjab, Edhi Foundation, Pakistan Bureau, National Highway and Motor Police, provincial police, provincial highway authorities, the Ministry of Interior and various road safety networks.

Lahore traffic police arrest 248 underage drivers

According to data, in the last five years, Lahore remained at the top with 867,000 accidents, followed by Karachi with 358,000 accidents.

Punjab recorded 1,261,000 accidents, Peshawar witnessed 158,000 accidents last year, Sindh reported approximately 500,000 accidents, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recorded 214,000 accidents, Balochistan saw 71,245 accidents, Islamabad 4,501 saw 1,596 fatalities and 4,574 injuries.

Here’s the revised version with corrected spelling and grammar:

According to official statistics, 18,001 deaths have been registered in Punjab, and 12,286 in Sindh.

Documents reveal that 7,545 people have died in KP, and 5,969 in Balochistan, while 1,656,000 people have been injured in Punjab, and 3,289,000 people in Sindh.

In the last five years, 250,000 passengers have been injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while 115,000 passengers have been injured in Balochistan.

According to the data, 71% of total accidents involved motorcyclists, 20% involved cars and big buses, and the rest involved rickshaws.

Notably, 60% of drivers in Pakistan operate without a licences.

Over the past five years, 365,145 vehicles and motorcycles worth Rs109 billion have been destroyed.

Statistics reveal that over 400 million motorcycles and vehicles are registered in Pakistan, with an additional 1.3 million motorcycles and rickshaws remaining unregistered in the country.

Statistics show that the Indus Highway, Multan-Muzaffargarh and Quetta-Karachi Highway have been declared the most dangerous roads.

More than 7,000 passengers have died in 320 dangerous accidents on these three roads in five years.

In the last 10 years, a total of 204 million motor licences have been issued in the country, and in the same period, the highway department has collected Rs325 billion in toll tax from toll plazas.

The National Highway and Motorway has collected Rs103 billion in toll tax in three years. In the context of collections, the statistics further reveal that 4,000 kilometres of roads that were washed away in the flood of 2022 in the country have badly been damaged.

Out of 32,00 kilometres of road, 13,000 kilometres of small highways are in very poor condition, including 5,000 kilometres in Punjab, 980 kilometres in KP, 3,000 kilometres in Sindh and 1,879 kilometres in Balochistan.