“…anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.“
Been brought up in Saudia Arabia where you only need to extend your arms out of the windows to make your car airborne, Pakistan didn’t come as a surprise to have an overall slow paced traffic. There were obvious hurdles to maintain a steady speed which in turn guarantees a good mileage.
The technology which gave the best mileage to Pakistanis up until two years ago, came from the early 80s, in the shape of Mehran. The inclusion of EFI from factory gave the Mehran a new life but still, jerky gear changes which requires superhuman strength, and a spine made of adamantium steel.
But here’s the thought, the speeds at which our traffic moves, regardless of whether there’s a traffic jam or not, the uncle’s calling out anyone a ‘young-hot-blooded-rage-monster’ when they overtake them from the left at a speed of 40 KM/H, defines pretty much the curses of being a motorist in Pakistan.
There’s absolute corruption in Pakistan and terrorism has nothing on it.
The need of a mass transit system is as great as anything else. The burden which average Pakistani motorist and the economy of this funny little country has to bear due to the slow pace of traffic is immense. My personal word on this issue may not carry much weight, but Toyota sanctioned NED University’s urban and infrastructure engineering department to do such a research and we got to know that Karachi alone loses 663 million rupees each day while an individual motorist loses 74 rupees per hour!
..if we extrapolated the losses to Karachi’s entire road network of 1,300 kms, the losses would amount to $ 2.5 billion per year, and if the situation isn’t resolved soon then by 2024, the losses would increase to $ 7.85 billion dollars per year said Dr Muhammad Adnan, an associate professor at the NED’s urban and infrastructure engineering department who co-authored the study.
Traffic jams in Karachi result in losses worth of millions each day
Speed doesn’t kill, it is the ignorance which kills in this day and age. Ignorance towards traffic laws and ensuring the smooth flow of traffic doesn’t just eases up Pakistan’s economic woes, but also impact an average Pakistani’s pocket.
There’s a difference between knowledge and information. Once you have consumed information, it becomes your knowledge. If you’re unable to process and consume information, you become ignorant. Such is the case with our government. It is ignorant.
Many Pakistanis have been to Dubai. Many believe that the Dubai Metro is merely a jewellery for Dubai but the increasing traffic during rush hours suggest that although a lot of money was wasted on its style and extravagance, it’s main purpose was to get people out of the cars and use the Metro as a means of transportation between work and home and shopping malls. Thus ease up congestion, reduce CO2 levels, and reduce the oil bill and dedicate the saved resources elsewhere. The heatwave in Karachi wasn’t a result of your sins, trust me, that heat will be on a different level but here, when you replace greenery with cement, and CO2 from cars stuck in jams, I am no scientist but shit will get worse in the years to come.
Karachi is fast becoming an urban village. Corruption is so rampant here that you can come here and pay off government officials to change your friend’s gender in the national database without a problem.
There’s no Metro or Mass Transit System in sight to ease our woes. (If it comes, I know that almost all the sick and tired Karachi motorist would hop on it for their daily commute to work and back.) The least we can do ourselves is educate people to maintain lane and speed discipline to create a steady flow and minimize the use of brakes and in turn not just impact our pockets in a healthy way, but also ease up on the country’s energy woes. The existing infrastructure, especially in Punjab has verily seen some good upgrades, this discipline can bore fruits of heavy magnitude there while some here as well.
The village idiots in Karachi however, who would go out even after their light has turned from yellow to red, should have a fine worth at least 5,000 because unknowingly, that is the least cost the people collectively have to suffer due to the locked grids.
I suggest a BEEP culture! Bring in the beep culture!
The RFID system which is being implemented in UAE, beeps and cuts you a hefty fine even if you cross the road from the wrong place. Those chips in the new National Identity Cards, work through the RFID system and long many Pakistanis have hold the view that this qaum deserves a danda over their heads!
You break the signal *BEEP* goes your RFID equipped license, you park your car because it will take you two minutes to just buy these fruits from the thela and it *BEEPS* by the minute. And soon, the almost silent sound of *BEEP* will become the number one terrorist of Pakistan.
I, for one, would welcome our new BEEPING overlords.
Granted, it isn’t as easy as it seems because a lof of factors must be considered but I am just making noise here. The people concerned should process the information…
“Speed doesn’t kill, it is the ignorance which kills in this day and age”…very well said.