Awareness workshop on road safety held

The Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, held awareness workshop on road safety here on Thursday. A large number of students of different departments of the university attended the awareness event. On the occasion, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Traffic Peshawar, Ali Mohammad Bogra delivered a comprehensive lecture and said that the traffic of any country is based on principles of Education, Engineering and Enforcement.
He said that the number of vehicles had been increased enormously for the last few years but little has been done for making the required infrastructure to improve and widen the roads, most of which are laid five decades ago. The growing population and that too with least awareness about traffic rules and non-co-operation with the traffic police are the major factors creating tremendous problems for the motorists in Peshawar and other peripheral areas.
Bogra informed that more than 50,000 rickshaws have been operating in Peshawar out of which 11,000 were registered. Similarly, he said that about 20,000 yellow cap taxi cars were operating out of which mere 800 registered which was alarming for the metropolis.
Sharing the last month traffic challan data in Peshawar city, he informed that they had charged fines to different vehicles Rs 15 million despite that motorists violating traffic rules.
It clearly indicates that violation of traffic rules has become a mindset of our people and you would be very surprised to know that most of the times it's the most educated people who don't obey them and sometimes the situation gets very notorious due to their irrational behaviour, non-co-operation and pressure tactics, he added. Sub Inspector Ijaz Hussain interpreted the traffic signals to the students for their understanding and showed them various video slides. He said that 95 percent of the total accidents are because of fault from drivers and only five percent accounts for technical and other mishaps.
Replying to a question of making service roads fully functional in Peshawar the officers were of the opinion that it's an uphill task difficult to attain due to forces unknown. A female student complained about men entering the female cabins in public transports causing problems to them, which the officers promised to address.