Traffic And The Road

Pakistani roads are not like the roads in driving textbooks. The textbooks assume everyone follows lane discipline, signals work, and pedestrians have right of way. On Ferozepur Road, on Shahrah e Faisal, on the GT Road through any small city, the real rules are different. A motorbike will overtake you on the left. A truck will turn without indicating. A donkey cart will reverse into a roundabout. The rickshaw behind you will honk if you slow down for a stray dog. The first life skill on the road is accepting the road as it actually is, not as the textbook wishes.

Pedestrian survival is the basic skill, because most of you are pedestrians most of the time. Three rules will save your life. First, never trust a green man at a signal. Always look both ways before stepping off the kerb, even when traffic is supposed to be stopped, because in Pakistan a turning motorbike does not see signals. Second, cross at the slowest predictable point, not the fastest. A roundabout is safer than a straight road because traffic is forced to slow. Third, walk against the direction of traffic on roads with no footpath, so you can see what is coming and step aside.

If you ride a motorbike, even just once a week behind your khala zad, three rules. Helmet on, strap clicked, every single time even for the two minute trip to the bakery. Reflective tape on the back fender, because at maghrib your bike is invisible to a Hilux driver until he is on top of you. Never sit sideways. Sideways riders fall first when the bike turns sharply, and they cannot brace.

Cyclists and pedestrians need to be visible. After maghrib, wear something light coloured or carry a small clip on light. White shirts beat dark ones for visibility by a huge margin. If you cycle at night, a one hundred rupee LED light clipped to your handlebars is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy. Even a torch held in one hand is better than nothing.

If you witness an accident, the most useful three things you can do are these. Call 1122 first, before crowding around the victim. Give a clear landmark, not just a road name. Do not move the injured person unless there is a fire risk, because moving a spinal injury wrongly can paralyse them. Stay until 1122 arrives. The standers and the gawpers are useless. The one person who calls and stays is doing what nobody else is doing.

Today's habit. Walk one route you take often, to school, to the bazaar, to your nani's house, with your phone in your pocket and your eyes up. Count three things. Spots where there is no footpath and you have to step into traffic. Crossings where the signals are broken or ignored. Spots where speeding vehicles cannot see you because of a wall, a hedge, a parked truck. Then take one of these three to an adult and ask what can be done. Maybe nothing this week. But noticing is the first city skill, and the city only gets better when more people notice.