The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the National Highway Authority (NHA) to submit a comprehensive roadmap for the implementation of the road safety reform programme, and asked about the status of establishing trauma and emergency centres along the National Highway and the motorways.
The direction came on a petition of Safia Lakho, who sought the registration of cases against the motorways IG and other traffic officials for their negligence in preventing traffic-related deaths on the M-9.
The court had earlier constituted a high-powered committee to inquire find the reasons for fatal accidents on the M-9 and the national highways in Sindh. The chief secretary also filed a report on the reasons for fatal accidents, and recommended measures to avoid such accidents in future.
The committee recommended regulatory enforcement for commercial and heavy transport, progressively upgrading the highways, including the M-9 corridor, by incorporating fencing, regulated entry and exit points, and the elimination of illegal crossings/cuts to significantly reduce accident risk.
The committee suggested that a plan with defined timelines for highway infrastructure improvement and rehabilitation be implemented, prioritising deficiencies such as inadequate lighting, deteriorating pavement conditions, and the absence of crash protection and road safety installations.
The committee recommended collective and practical approach for achieving sustainable upgrade of the road safety framework, and addressing the gaps identified during the committee’s proceedings.
The committee asked both the federal and provincial governments to formally collaborate for a comprehensive provincial road safety reform programme, integrating enforcement, engineering improvements, driver licensing, education and emergency response under a unified governance and implementation framework with clear timeliness and measurable indicators.
An SHC division bench headed by Justice Mohammad Saleem Jessar asked the NHA’s counsel about the implementation of the recommendations. The court directed the NHA to submit a comprehensive roadmap for the implementation of the road safety reform programme. The court also directed the NHA to submit the status of establishing trauma and emergency centres along the National Highway and the motorways with its operationalisation details under the National Highways Safety Ordinance.
The petitioner had pointed out that due to a completely destroyed road, there are long queues of vehicles on the road, depicting a picture of a blockade, which has caused several fatal accidents, for which the NHA is solely responsible.
