The losses on the road

The
losses on the road

Essay
Submission by Aaiza Adil

Pushing aside the
curtain of my bedroom window, I peer out to the wailing sirens and
commotion. My eyes immediately focus on the overturned car and the
group of people surrounding it, pulling whatever they could of what
remained in this tragedy. Six years ago, when I moved into this
apartment with my family, I was adamant on scoring the room with the
window that overlooked the Shah-re-Faisal Road, the stem of the
city’s road network with branches leading to every corner,
promising life and bustle for me to observe. It also unknowingly,
promised me weekly accidents.

As years passed,
the wrecked car sights became a normal occurrence. I was just another
bystander, like the group of people surrounding the accident site.
This changed on the night of 5th March 2020. It was an ordinary night
until one of our friends frantically called from the hospital,
breaking the news that our classmate Bilal, was in an accident, his
car totalled by a truck and he was in critical condition. When the
news broke, everything was a frenzy but none of us had fathomed that
we would have to say goodbye to our 19-year-old friend. From 5th
March to the early morning of 7th March, we started a chain of
prayers, dividing the Holy Scripture amongst ourselves, reading our
parts and praying for Bilal’s recovery. When Bilal’s heart
stopped, the doctors spent hours in attempts to bring him back.
Bilal’s ribcage was shattered but still, they performed CPR in
hopes of a revival. The desperation that I witnessed at that time
made me realize how we often under-estimate the importance of certain
life skills like driving.

In an
under-developed country like Pakistan where driving tests are not up
to the international standards, Bilal had gotten his driver’s
license by merely applying. He was not taught the risks of speeding
which led him in a headfirst collision with a truck. In coastal
cities like Karachi, the roads between the industrial areas and the
ports are heavily utilised by massive trucks carrying goods. Since
these enormous vehicles pose a grave danger to the surrounding cars
if the driver is under the influence of speeding, such roads should
be closed for civilian use after 6:00 PM and usable only for
transportation of goods from 6:00 PM to 6:00 AM. This will reduce the
heavy traffic as well as keep the civilians safe from disastrous
accidents. Police officers are not trusted by our drivers, but this
distrust can be salvaged by keeping the driving lessons and education
classes for the youth at the local police station of the area. The
upcoming generation of drivers will then realize to take help from
the system rather than running away from it.

I can make the roads safer by encouraging my friends and family to
talk about the risks of driving under the influence. We can encourage
our school administrations to hold on-campus informative sessions on
safe driving for students over the age of 15 to create awareness
about the dangers on the road and their consequences.