Road accidents kill more people than bombs: MoPH

KABUL (Pajhwok): Government officials attending a conference marking Global Road Safety Week in Kabul on Wednesday called road accidents as a ‘silent tsunami’, saying fatalities caused by accidents were higher than by explosions and suicide attacks.

Dr. Mamosi Ziwar, deputy public health minister, speaking at the event said, “Traffic accidents are one of major challenges for the public health. Around 1.35 million people lose their lives and 50 million others sustain wounds in traffic accidents on global level in a year,”

He expressed concern over increasing road accidents and said, “Fatalities happen in road accidents are higher than casualties of explosions and suicide attacks in the country.”

Nearly 4,000 traffic accidents happened over the last six months, killing 322 people and wounding nearly 20,000 others, he added.

Meanwhile, Col. Abdul Latif Khairkhwah, traffic accidents manager in Kabul, said that traffic control on roads, conducting public awareness programs about traffic laws and studying factors of traffic accidents could help reduce such incidents.

He said around 9,807 accidents happened during 1397 solar year (2018) in Kabul alone and only some of them caused no injuries or fatalities.

Lack of efficient policy and coordination among relevant organs has caused traffic accidents to increase, he said.

Khairkhwah said the traffic department had prepared a policy for traffic management but the organs concerned were not cooperating in its implementation.

Daud Altaf, talking on behalf of the World Health Organization at the event, said that celebration of Global Road Safety Week was helpful for public awareness in observing traffic rules.

The Ministry of Public Health has the plan to launch training programs and distribute awareness materials for improving public understanding about prevention of traffic accidents and fatalities caused by them.

mds