On April 15, a passenger wagon left from Karachi towards Quetta. It was among hundreds of vehicles which transport passengers through the RCD Highway. In the wagon, there were nine people from one family, who were traveling to Qilla Abdullah via Quetta to attend a funeral. The wagon travelled for nearly nine hours before it reached the Mastung area on the highway.
As the bus passed through the Ganadori area on the RCD highway, there was a collision with a truck. The truck was coming from the opposite direction and slipped to the other side of the road due to rainfall. As a result, the wagon was destroyed and 11 people lost their lives, including the entire family headed towards the funeral in Qilla Abdullah.
This deadly incident once again triggered debate on highway accidents in Balochistan. A picture of the accident went viral on social media, where a dead passenger was seen trapped inside the wagon, his hand outside the window. In the aftermath of this accident, social media users once again highlighted that the main reason for highway accidents in Balochistan is single-lane narrow highways.
An increasing number of deaths in highway accidents are becoming the norm in Balochistan. Back in January, 27 passengers died when a bus collided with an oil tanker on the RCD highway in Lasbela district. Back in 2014, 35 passengers died in the exact same circumstances on the same highway. In 2018, more than 400 people died in highway accidents in Balochistan, according to the provincial Home Department. In the same period, 306 people were killed in terrorist activities. In the last 10 years, as per Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), 3,797 people died in highway accidents and 2,238 people died in suicide attacks. This data makes highway accidents a bigger problem than terrorism in Balochistan.
Most highway accidents in Balochistan take place on the 813 kilometre-long Quetta-Karachi highway, also known as RCD Highway. About 8,000 vehicles travel on this road daily, at least 1,100 of which carry passengers. This is the main artery which connects northern Balochistan to Karachi. Still, it is a single-lane narrow road with no divider in between. The narrow width of the road makes it prone to deadly accidents when drivers try to overtake others on this highway. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe the January accident, among others, held the National Highway Authority (NHA) responsible. This JIT recommended extension of the road to control the problem of highway accidents.
Moreover, another major cause of accidents on this highway is the lack of implementation of safety regulations. National Highways and Motorways Police (NH&MP) is entrusted with the duty of enforcing highway safety regulations. However, of the 4,565-kilometre long highway of Balochistan, NH&MP only has jurisdiction over 515 kilometres. Lack of highway policing allows reckless drivers of the buses to endanger lives of passengers by driving faster than permissible speed limits and overtaking recklessly
This accident last week once again stirred the debate for taking action to control highway accidents. Citizens took to social media to condemn the federal government for not upgrading highways of Balochistan. They demanded that the federal government upgrade the RCD highway to a four-lane dual carriageway on an urgent basis. Politicians, traders, activists, and members of the civil society in Balochistan unequivocally supported the demand for upgrading the highway to control accidents.
The federal government needs to realise its responsibility in this regard. It should address the demand of the people. This will require spending a lot of money and if these upgrades are not done then it will result in loss of more precious lives in highway accidents in Balochistan. The PTI government should allocate funds for expansion of major highways of the province, starting from the RCD highway, in the federal budget. Political representatives of Balochistan should press the federal government to take this action urgently.
Those who oppose the expansion of highways present a flawed argument: they argue that there is too little traffic to justify the expenses. Balochistan makes up 43 percent of the land area of Pakistan and the width of its highways should be determined based on connectivity needs rather than traffic count ratios. Economist Dr Kaiser Bengali also argues for expansion of highways in Balochistan in his book A Cry for Justice: Empirical Insights from Balochistan. He writes, “traffic-count based analysis can’t be applied to determine the width of highways in Balochistan, given the thinly spread population of the province.” He further argues that the NHA should allocate funds for Balochistan based on its land area and not the population.
Once the work begins on the expansion of the highway, the next step is to implement safety rules. The jurisdiction of NH&MP should be increased in Balochistan and it should fully cover the RCD highway. NH&MP should fine those violating the speed limit, and uncompromising action should be taken against transporters not doing enough to protect loss of lives on their vehicles.
The unfortunate family which lost nine of its members in the accident last week were going to Quetta for a funeral. These people were sent back to Karachi for their own funerals on the same highway on which they died.
The author is a journalist and researcher based in Quetta. He can be reached on Twitter @iAdnanAamir
As the bus passed through the Ganadori area on the RCD highway, there was a collision with a truck. The truck was coming from the opposite direction and slipped to the other side of the road due to rainfall. As a result, the wagon was destroyed and 11 people lost their lives, including the entire family headed towards the funeral in Qilla Abdullah.
This deadly incident once again triggered debate on highway accidents in Balochistan. A picture of the accident went viral on social media, where a dead passenger was seen trapped inside the wagon, his hand outside the window. In the aftermath of this accident, social media users once again highlighted that the main reason for highway accidents in Balochistan is single-lane narrow highways.
An increasing number of deaths in highway accidents are becoming the norm in Balochistan. Back in January, 27 passengers died when a bus collided with an oil tanker on the RCD highway in Lasbela district. Back in 2014, 35 passengers died in the exact same circumstances on the same highway. In 2018, more than 400 people died in highway accidents in Balochistan, according to the provincial Home Department. In the same period, 306 people were killed in terrorist activities. In the last 10 years, as per Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), 3,797 people died in highway accidents and 2,238 people died in suicide attacks. This data makes highway accidents a bigger problem than terrorism in Balochistan.
About 8,000 vehicles travel on this road daily. At least 1,100 carry passengers
Most highway accidents in Balochistan take place on the 813 kilometre-long Quetta-Karachi highway, also known as RCD Highway. About 8,000 vehicles travel on this road daily, at least 1,100 of which carry passengers. This is the main artery which connects northern Balochistan to Karachi. Still, it is a single-lane narrow road with no divider in between. The narrow width of the road makes it prone to deadly accidents when drivers try to overtake others on this highway. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) formed to probe the January accident, among others, held the National Highway Authority (NHA) responsible. This JIT recommended extension of the road to control the problem of highway accidents.
Moreover, another major cause of accidents on this highway is the lack of implementation of safety regulations. National Highways and Motorways Police (NH&MP) is entrusted with the duty of enforcing highway safety regulations. However, of the 4,565-kilometre long highway of Balochistan, NH&MP only has jurisdiction over 515 kilometres. Lack of highway policing allows reckless drivers of the buses to endanger lives of passengers by driving faster than permissible speed limits and overtaking recklessly
This accident last week once again stirred the debate for taking action to control highway accidents. Citizens took to social media to condemn the federal government for not upgrading highways of Balochistan. They demanded that the federal government upgrade the RCD highway to a four-lane dual carriageway on an urgent basis. Politicians, traders, activists, and members of the civil society in Balochistan unequivocally supported the demand for upgrading the highway to control accidents.
The federal government needs to realise its responsibility in this regard. It should address the demand of the people. This will require spending a lot of money and if these upgrades are not done then it will result in loss of more precious lives in highway accidents in Balochistan. The PTI government should allocate funds for expansion of major highways of the province, starting from the RCD highway, in the federal budget. Political representatives of Balochistan should press the federal government to take this action urgently.
Those who oppose the expansion of highways present a flawed argument: they argue that there is too little traffic to justify the expenses. Balochistan makes up 43 percent of the land area of Pakistan and the width of its highways should be determined based on connectivity needs rather than traffic count ratios. Economist Dr Kaiser Bengali also argues for expansion of highways in Balochistan in his book A Cry for Justice: Empirical Insights from Balochistan. He writes, “traffic-count based analysis can’t be applied to determine the width of highways in Balochistan, given the thinly spread population of the province.” He further argues that the NHA should allocate funds for Balochistan based on its land area and not the population.
Once the work begins on the expansion of the highway, the next step is to implement safety rules. The jurisdiction of NH&MP should be increased in Balochistan and it should fully cover the RCD highway. NH&MP should fine those violating the speed limit, and uncompromising action should be taken against transporters not doing enough to protect loss of lives on their vehicles.
The unfortunate family which lost nine of its members in the accident last week were going to Quetta for a funeral. These people were sent back to Karachi for their own funerals on the same highway on which they died.
The author is a journalist and researcher based in Quetta. He can be reached on Twitter @iAdnanAamir