P L D 2013 Lahore 673 (PLP)

UMAR ATA BANDIAL, C J.

This petition has been filed in public interest to bring to the notice of the Court the rapid rise in already high number of vehicular accidents taking place on the road in the metropolitan cities as well as the rest of the province.

2. The most informative report on the subject has been filed by respondent No.4, Director General Punjab Emergency Services (1122) that has provided the data regarding accidents by different vehicles and the casualties suffered. The greatest number of accidents, namely, 33,445 have taken place in Lahore city during the period August-2010 until July, 2011. That figure is followed by Faisalabad 14,164, Gujranwala, 10,233 and Multan 8,604 and the rest of the cities have smaller number of accidents. During the said period, the analysis given by respondent No.4 shows that 32% of victims fall within the age bracket of 21 to 30 years and surprisingly 24% fall within the age bracket of 11 to 20 years. 55% of the accidents have involved motorcycles. Negligent driving has been cause of 33% of the accidents while over-speeding has been cause of 32% of the accidents. There have been fatalities as a result of such accidents as well as injuries involving terminal condition like spinal and head injuries etc.

3. A number of recommendations have been made in the report which identified three main causes. Firstly, under aged driving of vehicles; secondly, defective/faulty vehicles and thirdly, black spots/road side hazards. The recommendations include various regulatory and enforcement steps. However, the three primary causes of the accidents identified by respondent No.4 have physical dimensions which can easily be identified on inspection. Such as black spots can be catered conveniently by traffic authorities, defective and faulty vehicles on the road can be identified by the traffic police; and children driving motorcycles and other vehicles can also be picked up.

4. In essence, the three primary causes can be addressed through better monitoring and enforcement. These are matters that fall within the jurisdiction of the CTOs in the metropolitan cities and traffic police in the rest of the province.

5. At the outset, the respondent No.1 Secretary Transport, respondent No.2, the I.G Police, Punjab and respondent No.3 Chief Traffic Officer shall make efforts to improve the monitoring and inspection of vehicle/drivers on the roads. The data provided by respondent No.4 shall be published in newspapers to make the public aware of the road traffic accidents and the main causes therefor. The petitioners and their learned counsel shall be provided access to the information and data available with the said respondents so that if the need arises, they may approach the Court again.

6. In view of the foregoing observations, this petition is disposed of. KMZ/J-16/L Order accordingly.