There is social malaise behind the tragedies in our midst

LAST WEEK a madly driven car knocked down young Mohammad Zaheer waiting to cross the Islamabad Highway to reach his college. His tragic death ignited a violent protest by the students that paralysed the city traffic for six hours and damaged scores of cars. Whom to blame for all the mayhem – the car driver, the traffic police that did not check his mad driving, the authorities who are ever widening the roads but don’t provide bridges for pedestrians to cross them, or the students for rioting?Certainly poor Mohammad Zaheer could not be faulted for travelling by bus and standing by the roadside to cross over to his college in Sector H-8. His father, a fireman, must be finding it difficult even to finance his education much less to buy him a car, even a bike.A madly driven Cultus car hit the second year student of the Federal Government Commerce College, H-8, whiles its driver overtaking other vehicles on the left side of the highway and sped away leaving behind the injured in a pool of blood.The injured was taken to the hospital but doctors could not save his life. Hundreds of students poured out on the highway to protest when the tragic news reached the college. Students protesting the death of a colleague in the hit-and-run accident blocked the highway for six hours, throwing traffic in the city in a big mess. They demanded constructing a bus stop and a pedestrian bridge at the site for the students crossing the highway to reach their educational institutions in Sector H-8, and deploying traffic police to check traffic, particularly during school hours.Islamabad Highway and all other major arteries, highways, and avenues lake pedestrian bridges and bus stops.It is a negligence of the Capital Development Authority as before launching any new project or starting any extension work it does not take care of the need of ordinary people.A day before the incident the Prime Minister inaugurated the Islamabad Expressway on January 20 from Faizabad to Kurral. On the occasion, he said, “We will bring revolution in Islamabad during next few months as new roads and bridges will be constructed and the condition of basic civic amenities would be improved.”The prime Minister is frequent traveller on the highway, but maybe he never noticed the absence of bus stops and pedestrian bridges. Had he noticed the need for the pedestrian bridges and bus stops he would never have been “immensely pleased” to inaugurate the highway.After the departure of the Prime Minister from the opening ceremony, hundreds of residents, living on both sides of the highway, poured at the highway and staged a protest against city managers for not constructing pedestrian bridges on it, putting their lives in danger.The residents of Kuri Road also staged a protest demonstration against the CDA and demanded installation of pedestrian bridges there.The Islamabad Highway is the busiest road as thousands of vehicles use it daily, and an equal number of pedestrians cross it. This is also a VVIP route.From Zero Point to Kurral it has five traffic signals and 12 bus stops. Before the extension work, it had three pedestrian bridges and some bus stops. However, all the bridges and bus stops were demolished for the extension work on the expressway.The facilities for the pedestrians and users of passenger vehicles are yet to be re-built.The Islamabad Expressway serves as the main entry point to the capital through which thousands of vehicles transport over 100,000 people daily. It has five lanes on each side.The pedestrians are compelled to cross the road daily putting their lives on risk.The traffic police officials say that at least three to four non-fatal fatal accidents take place daily and three fatal accidents weekly on the expressway after the completion of the extension work.The traffic police personnel write every day to the indifferent CDA to build nine pedestrian bridges and three bridges on the expressway to avoid the accidents and save human lives.A committee constituted by the capital administration suggested that there was a need for eight pedestrian and seven overhead bridges on the expressway to reduce road accidents.The CDA was also tasked to construct safe pathways on both sides of the expressway for pedestrian.Since the construction of bridges will take time, it was decided to install pedestrian signals and paint zebra crossing at all the bus stops on the expressway within two days.