Road accidents in Balochistan are not a new saga, but it is occurring for decades. Undoubtedly, the rampant adversities are going unchecked, no signs remain to observe them. Though, Balochistan is the biggest province in the country with full of natural resources, but unfortunately, it has no well-in-state roads and transport system to travel from one place to another.
In last fortnight, when a bus was on the way from Karachi to Panjgur, it met an accident on Quetta-Karachi highway near Uthal in Balochistan district of Lasbela, where 14 people lost their precious lives including women and children. It is the second biggest accident on this highway.
There are several factors behind these casualties, but the major agent which is the root cause of road accidents is the single roads of Balochistan, where vehicles cannot cross one another easily; if they do then, in most cases, they would crush.
Besides this, irresponsible and careless drivers are also responsible for these happenings, who do not care while driving. Many of them are not well trained and do not have good skills to drive fluently. In addition, majority of them are drug users; they take heroin, alcohol and drive. Because of these reckless drivers, in 2019, on the same route at Lasbela cross, a passenger bus was collided with a truck and caught fire, in which most of the travellers burnt into ashes; most of them belonged to Panjgur district. It is a big stain on the face of the ruling government.
Thus, the given highway has claimed thousands of lives. According to the motorway police report, every year 6000 to 8000 people lose their lives in traffic accidents in Balochistan. Now, there must be brought a termination to it. However, the victimized families of Balochistan are unable to bear this fear anymore.
To note, the government of Balochistan has initiated a step to record the speed of buses when driving on this highway, but who knows till when it will be functional. There are other factors which determine their presence in making more accidents, too; the biggest one is single highway. The government of Balochistan needs to come together at one platform with the other concerned authorities and make the two-way highway possible the soonest and make the infrastructure of roads better.
