Road traffic deaths and injuries are a major public health and development issue around the world and Pakistan is no exception. With official road fatalities in 2013 reported at 9,917 (WHO estimates at 25,781), Pakistan is facing a serious issue with the enormous grief of losing victims, financial distress and, as a result, lower living standards leading to poverty.

iRAP and the ChinaRAP team are now working with the Pakistan National Highway Authority (NHA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to help change this situation.

Activities under what is now known as the PakistanRAP initiative will include:

• Conducting road assessments of national highways, which total more than 12,000km.
• Building capacity of local policy makers, engineers and consultants to perform iRAP assessments and to turn Star Rating assessments into safer roads.

As part of the initiative, the ChinaRAP team will be sharing its own experience in assessing a rapidly growing road network and directing large-scale safety interventions as developed in conducting China’s Highway Safety to Cherish Life project.

Phase 1 of the PakistanRAP initiative included Star Rating National Highway 5 (N-5), which is approximately 1,760km in length and connects Peshawar in the north with Karachi in the south. Although most of the road was rated 1- or 2-stars, which indicates a high risk level, with implementation of affordable safety treatments such as curve delineation, street lighting, safety barriers and pedestrian facilities, all 1-star roads could be rapidly eliminated. The interventions identified would also provide a foundation for achieving the UN Road Safety Target of 75% of travel on road rated 3-stars or better by 2030.

Phase 2, involving assessments of a further 5,000km of roads, is now underway.

iRAP is proud to be a part of this important project for Pakistan, working towards our vision of a world free of high risk roads. Find out how iRAP collaborates with other organisations to help save lives on our roads here.