HERE is a lack of official data documenting the crisis, but even by the most conservative estimates, over a dozen citizens die every day in traffic accidents. The past week has been particularly tragic. On Saturday, at least four children were killed and three other people injured when a van carrying them to a madressah plunged into a ravine in Azad Kashmir`s Neelum Valley. The driver had lost control of the vehicle while navigating a sharp bend. A day earlier, in Khuzdar, Balochistan, at least12 travellers were killed and around two dozen injured when a minibus and a passenger coach collided on the QuettaKarachi Highway. Earlier, on Tuesday, at least 10 travellers were killed and 44 others injured when their bus rammed into a road divider on the Indus Highway in Rajanpur, Punjab, and flipped.

Their bus driver had been driving rashly when the accident occurred. He fled the law, as did the owner of the bus service.

These are routine occurrences.

Anyone who has traversed Pakistan`s roads and highways will attest to how dangerous driving conditions can be, especially when drivers of large passenger vehicles throw all sense and caution to the wind to race each other on busy routes. The motorways may be slightly safer due to stricter monitoring by motorways police, but it is usually every driver for themselves on national highways, where police presence is thin and monitoring weak. It also appears that the legal deterrents in place to discourage rash and reckless driving are simply not strong enough. A stricter regime is needed so that the steepest possible penalties can be imposed on bus operators with poor safety records. Meanwhile, the state must ensure that victims and their families get the maximum monetary restitution possible. It is inexcusable, to say the least, that dangerous driving continues to kill at this scale. The state must make it painful to break the law for things to change.