Learning to drive is a milestone in a young person’s life. Driving can bring freedom, especially in areas like northern areas of Pakistan, including Chitral with little or sometimes no public transportation.
But it also has its downside when your age, expertise and maturity is not up to the limit. In Chitral nowadays it has became a trend to have a motorbike or a jeep in a teen age either you afford it or not. After having it luckily there are no barriers to come on roads and start copying the Hollywood movie stunts on the decades-old roads with miserable condition putting yourself and others lives in danger.
Researchers say that teenagers are involved in three times more fatal crashes as compare to experienced drivers. Studies also show that teenagers can face a double challenge when getting behind the wheel. They’re not only young but also lack maturity as decision-making and impulse control continue to develop well into their 20s as they gain experience and their brains mature fully ,they’re also inexperienced which is a main cause of many crashes.
On the basis of these facts, it is my request to the district traffic regulating bodies and the district police to think on this fatal issue and ensure basic requirements such as a valid driving license and basic safety gears such as helmet. A minor effort by the law making and implementing bodies can save precious lives.
Inam Ullah Khan Yaftali
Aga Khan University Hospital
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