State Minister for Communications Mr. Murad Saeed has said that Road Safety is a major public health issue in Pakistan and that in every five minutes someone is killed or badly injured in a road traffic crash in Pakistan. As the chief guest, he was addressing the launching ceremony of Pakistan National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 arranged with the cooperation of UK-Aid and Asian Development Bank (ADB), at a local hotel here on Thursday.
Federal Secretary Communications Mr. Shoaib Ahmad Siddiqui, Chairman NHA Mr. Jawwad Rafique Malik, Inspector General National Highways and Motorways Police Mr. Allah Dino Khawaja, Mr. Shahbaz Latif Mirza Assistant Chief National Transport Research Centre, Dr. Rizwan Naseer Director General Rescue 1122 Punjab, Ms. Patricia Sexx Head Economic Growth Group DFID Pakistan, Mr. Sunil Mitra Deputy Country Director ADB Pakistan Resident Mission & Mr. Hameed Akhtar Director Roads Ministry of Communications also addressed.
Mr. Murad Saeed said, the present government is determined to put country on the track to development. Pakistan’s rapid economic uplift growth and expanding road infrastructure create an opportunity to significantly improve the safety of the road transport system through better roads and roadsides, safer travel speeds, safer vehicles and improved safety awareness and compliance of all people who travel on our roads. He said, Pakistan’s geographical position places it at the heart of regional road transport growth. However, improvements in mobility must not be at the expense of safety.
He further said, the National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 is informed by the principles of the Safe System approach which has at its core the vision that no one should die or be seriously injured because of a road traffic crash. He said, the Strategy can establish the foundations for safer road travel that will benefit future generations. It sets out a national framework of road safety goals, objectives and focus action areas for interventions to improve performance on key risk factors and meet a specific target for saving lives. Road safety is a shared societal responsibility. We all must do more to protect our communities from death and grievous injury, he added.
The speakers opined that the Pakistan National Road Safety Strategy 2018-2030 builds on the foundation of the first National Road Safety Plan for Motorways and National Highways 2017-18 and broadens the scope to address all road networks and all road user groups in Pakistan. It sets out a long term road safety vision for Pakistan and practical, evidence based actions to improve safety on national, provincial and local roads. They said, this Strategy, and the series of road safety action plans which will be developed to implement it, addresses all roads and all road users, especially vulnerable road users such as motorcyclists, pedestrians, drivers and passengers in three-wheeled vehicles and children.