LAHORE:
Road traffic accidents (RTC) in Punjab have claimed 4,791 lives in 2025 so far, marking a sharp 19 per cent rise in deaths compared to the previous year, despite a slower rise in the number of accidents, Rescue 1122 data shows.
According to the annual statistics of the emergency service, a total of 482,870 road accidents were recorded in Punjab during 2025, resulting in injuries to almost 570,000 people. In comparison, in 2024, 467,561 accidents were recorded, resulting in 4,139 deaths, while in 2023, 420,387 accidents occurred, claiming 3,967 lives.
The figures highlight a worrying trend: while traffic accidents increased by 5.8% in 2025 (significantly less than the 11.9% increase seen in 2024), the number of deaths increased disproportionately, indicating greater severity of accidents.
Emergency Services Secretary Dr Rizwan Naseer expressed concern over the data while chairing an annual operational review meeting on road accidents.
“In Pakistan, a traffic accident occurs almost every minute and, tragically, the main victims are often breadwinners,” he said, calling the situation in Punjab “extremely alarming.”
Dr Naseer noted that more than 75% of fatal accidents involved motorcycles, underlining the vulnerability of two-wheeler drivers. He stressed that only reducing the speed of motorcycles to 50 kilometers per hour could significantly reduce the number of injuries and deaths. “Each increase of one kilometer per hour increases the risk of suffering a fatal accident by between four and five percent,” he warned.
The meeting was attended by heads of various wings of the emergency services department, provincial monitoring officer and district emergency officers (DEOs), who joined via video link.
Officials reviewed major emergencies, district-level performance, operational challenges, case studies and lessons learned during the year.
A briefing by the chief operating officer revealed that Lahore recorded the highest number of road accidents in 2025, with 88,743 cases, followed by Faisalabad (32,309) and Multan (29,804).
At the other end of the spectrum, Murree reported the lowest number of accidents at 1,889, while Attock recorded 3,748 and Jhelum 4,301 accidents.
Interestingly, despite the high absolute numbers, Lahore, Rawalpindi and Faisalabad showed a decrease in road accidents compared to 2024. Accidents decreased by 5.85% in Lahore, 4.33% in Rawalpindi and 1.82% in Faisalabad.
However, data showed an increase in RTC in 34 other districts of Punjab.
A vehicle involvement analysis revealed that motorcycles were responsible for 75% of all accidents. Cars accounted for 8.6%, rickshaws 4.7%, buses, trucks and vans 4.3%, while other types of vehicles accounted for 7.4%.
Pedestrians were affected in 10.34% of traffic accidents, highlighting the risks faced by those walking on or near busy roads.
As for injuries, Rescue 1122 data showed that most victims suffered fractures and head injuries. These included 39,250 cases of single fractures, 19,603 head injuries, 8,362 multiple fractures and 1,125 spinal injuries. Of the 569,901 people injured in traffic accidents, 80.6% were men and 19.4% were women.
The data also points to a sharp increase in certain categories of accidents. Tractor accidents increased by 27%, followed by cars (17%), motorcycles (15%), buses (14%), rickshaws (13%) and trucks (10%).
Accidents involving vans experienced a slight decrease of 2%.
The provincial secretary emphasized the use of properly fastened helmets that do not obstruct vision or hearing and warned against risky practices such as sitting sideways on motorcycles or wearing loose clothing that could get caught in the wheels.
