KARACHI: The unchecked misuse of heavy vehicles continues to be a death sentence for Karachi’s residents, where more than half of all traffic accident fatalities during the first four months of the current year are attributable to buses, trailers, trucks, dumper trucks, water tankers and oil tankers, it emerged on Monday.

On the morning of March 22, a father and his two minor daughters were crushed to death by a cement mixer on Sharea Faisal as they were on their way to the children’s school on a motorbike.

In a similar accident, a man and his two sons were run over by a trailer on ICI Bridge as they made their way home from work.

A week ago, two motorcyclists suffered the same fate in Quaidabad, when a water bowser’s brakes failed and it ran over and killed them near Daud Chowrangi.

Sixty-nine dead, 40 injured in 62 fatal accidents between January and April this year

Gut-wrenching stories such as these, of families being torn up by recklessly driven large vehicles, have become a regular feature of the city’s news cycle. Tragically, the city’s denizens seem to have little option, but to accept it as an inherent risk of life in a chaotic and sometimes lawless metropolis.

‘Around 90pc of victims are motorcyclists’

DIG Traffic Ahmed Nawaz Cheema told Dawn that in accidents that involve heavy vehicles, 90pc of the victims are either bike riders or pedestrians.

According to the data compiled by Karachi Traffic Police, there were a total of 79 accidents recorded in the first four months (up to April 28) of this year alone. Of the total, 62 accidents resulted in casualties, with 69 killed and 40 injured as a result.

Among the fatal accidents, trucks were responsible for the deaths of 17, trailers for 10, water tankers eight, cars/jeeps seven, buses six, unknown vehicles five, minibuses, dumper trucks and oil tankers three, and coaches, pickups and motorcycles two each. A total of 56 motorcyclists lost their lives in 49 fatal accidents.

When asked about the reasons for the markedly higher fatality rate among motorcyclists in accidents, DIG Cheema said: “If we look into the accidents, about 92pc of the bike riders were not wearing helmets [at the time of accident] and 100pc of them did not have back view mirrors installed.”

He cited reckless riding by bikers and traffic rules violations by heavy vehicles as the major causes behind fatalities.

“Bikers shift the lanes from extreme left to extreme right, or extreme right to extreme left. Similarly, heavy vehicles are not allowed to use the extreme right lane or even left, but centre [but do not observe the rule].”

On a question regarding the traffic police’s continued failure to address the issue, DIG Cheema told Dawn that Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon had in February restricted the authorisation to issue challans over traffic violations to Section Officers (SO) only, which has prevented officers of other ranks from taking immediate action over violations.

“The city used to have 1,040 officers entitled to issue tickets,” he said, adding that the department only has 108 SOs, of which 88 are assigned to on-road duty.

To counter the shortage of challan-issuing officers, a recommendation of 350 “energetic and clean” assistant sub inspectors, sub inspectors and inspectors has been sent to the AIGP to permit them to issue tickets.

Heavy vehicles not allowed on Sharea Faisal: DIG

On the question of measures taken to curb such incidents, he said restrictions have been imposed on the movement of intercity heavy transport vehicles, including long haul vehicles and 22-wheelers, and they are only allowed to ply the roads from 11pm to 7am.

He noted that these vehicles can only use designated roads and are not allowed to use Sharea Faisal. As far as intra-city heavy vehicles are concerned, he added, they are banned from plying the roads during peak hours, which are from 7am to 9am and 5pm to 9pm.

However, he said, the measure had been resisted by private transport vehicles as well as government institutions. In particular, the water tankers operated by the Karachi Water and Sewage Board (KWSB) and garbage trucks operated by the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board were facing issues due to the restrictions. He said the traffic department is subsequently reviewing the situation and planning to allow some relaxations to the rules.

When asked about how such cases are prosecuted, Advocate Ahrar Jawaid Bhutto explained that FIRs are filed by the deceased family under Section 320 (Punishment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving) of the Pakistan Penal Code, but case rarely go to the point of conviction and are mostly settled through out-of-court compromises.

DIG Cheema said that the department is trying to pursue enforcement as strongly as possible. It has also been issuing and checking Heavy Travelling Vehicle (HTV) licences for drivers.

He also said that traffic police would convince and inform motorcyclists about taking necessary safety precautions and bike riding protocols to avoid fatal accidents.

Published in Dawn,May 3rd, 2022