As the number of accident-related deaths has increased manifold, the Lahore High Court (LHC) has accepted a written petition for the installation of airbags in all local and commercial vehicles in Pakistan. The petition was filed by a citizen a few days back to the LHC to make the airbags mandatory in all local vehicles. In a move to cope up with the threatening accidents taking place in the country, the petition for amendments in the Automotive Development Policy (ADP) 2016-2021 has been passed by LHC.
The petition has been addressed to major car manufacturing companies of Pakistan and the concerned government departments. As per the present Automotive Development Policy (ADP) 2016-2021, the installation of airbags is not mandatory in all vehicles, but the amendments in the policy will lead towards ensuring more safety measures for the drivers.
There is no doubt in the fact, that the government’s ADP development focuses on providing Pakistan’s automotive industry with relevant and safety guidelines, but it still overlooked the matter of installation of airbags and their due importance is saving human lives from fatal accidents.
The petitioner implored that several people in Pakistan die due to accidents owing to the non-airbags in vehicles. He further maintained that airbags are the need of the time where there is a rapid increase in traffic in even the smallest of cities and citizens need protection.
The government has given the guidelines on the subject matter by way of ADP to take an emergency step to revise the policy. The petition reads: “The government has given guidelines on the subject matter by way of ADP but airbags are not mandatory in the whole policy (ADP 2016-2021). Therefore, the policy must be revised, amended, or reframed by inserting a clause to make airbags mandatory in all vehicles”.
According to the reports, the Government of Pakistan had reached a consensus on the United Nations agreement regarding the adoption of international safety standards, a few months back. The agreement was signed in Pakistan on 24 April 2020. The developments of this agreement are yet to be seen.
