Balochistan is not only the largest province of Pakistan in terms of area, but also the largest province in entire South Asia. With 147,000 square miles, its location makes it strategically significant. Geopolitically, Balochistan is an important part of Pakistan. But unluckily, we have been facing a lot of problems. Road accidents are the major of all.
The single 813 kilometer long N-25 highway is connected from Karachi to Chaman, which is also known as RCD (Regional Cooporation for Development). This highway is also named as “The killer highway” due to a great number of deaths in accidents in this very busy road. The highway has now turned to a “death trap”. In the given days, we witness numerous deadly road accidents in RCD highway.
In fact, there is no any single day when we do not mourn over an accident on this highway. Balochistan has suffered more from road accidents than terrorism in this last decade. There was no decrease of road accidents in the year, 2021, as well. According to a report of Balochistan Youth and Civil Society (BYCS), In the month of January [2021], about 1,000 road accidents occured in different areas of Balochistan leaving 1,446 injured and killing 106.
In 2018, more than 400 people died in highway accidents. A provincial home department unveils that 3,797 people have died in highway accidents in last one decade in this part. Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reveals the data on traffic accidents as an average of 15 people die in road accidents in Pakistan on daily basis, 6 to 7 of 15 belong to Balochistan.
In Balochistan’s RCD highway, one cannot find any barrier to separate the lines. It is only a single track. There is an urgent need for stringent check and balance by highway authorities to check the movement of buses and other vehicles. CCTV cameras on the given highway will also be useful to control the speed of the vehicles.
In short, now we are sick to see a new burning face daily because of our careless drivers who drive recklessly and are distracted by the single track. The buses which run between Quetta to karachi are named as “Quetta to paradise”. Government should take strict steps to rebuild a double link highway and should take action agaisnt reckless drivers.
