RAWALPINDI - The increasing trend of one-wheeling continued unchecked on various roads of the city particularly at night as motor bikers, mostly teenagers, are witnessed performing dangerous stunts and driving their motorcycles on one wheel on the busy roads of the city.
The one-wheelers most of the time without helmet, are seen involved in the dangerous activity on the roads near Committee Chowk, Nawaz Sharif Park, Shamsabad, Ayub Park and other areas and usually succeed to dodge the traffic wardens deployed on the roads. These motor bikers not only endanger their own lives but also pose serious threats to others and also interrupt traffic flow, Shehzad told APP. The one-wheeling by teenaged motorcyclists, risking their life and public as well, on busy roads of the city is continuing unchecked, he said. Despite, all efforts being claimed by police to eliminate the activity, the trend of one-wheeling is increasing and growing at a very fast pace. The bikers do not take any precautionary measures like wearing helmet, elbow guards etc and come out on roads.
Especially on gazetted holidays and weekly holidays, these bikers run through the roads doing their one-wheeling antics thus putting their lives in danger. Though, the traffic wardens were deployed on the city roads, but they are unable to save the citizens of Rawalpindi at the disposal of fun-loving teenagers who tend to break the traffic laws the way they want to.
The youngsters who resort to one-wheeling often carry out dangerous stunts like laying flat on motorbikes, driving their bikes in standing positions, and driving with their backs facing the steering of motorbikes.
The teenagers who carry out such dangerous stunts are often left unchecked by the city traffic police. A youngster, Mohsin, said that although one-wheeling is a dangerous sport, he sees no harm in it on special occasions.
He said the motorcyclists demonstrating one-wheeling and other stunts monitor the positions and response timing of police personnel. Although, there are policemen on the roads especially the Murree road but they are able to find enough space for their stunt.
The traffic authorities when contacted agreed that one wheel drive is posing a serious challenge to Rawalpindi city traffic police. “It is a serious problem and several accidents been reported to us. We are working to adopt counter measures but it has to be realized that escaping on motorbikes is much easier as compare to cars or other vehicles,” stated a senior traffic police officer. Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) City Police Officer (CTO) Ghulam Abbas Tarar informed that hundreds of challan tickets are issued every months on dangerous and negligent driving while various cases were also registered against one-wheelers during last three months.
Meanwhile, an awareness seminar on prevention of hepatitis particularly B and C was organised in Rawalpindi Medical College Auditorium at Holy Family Hospital. Asia Hep Forum Chairman Professor of Medicine at RMC Dr. Muhammad Umar, Coordinator of the activity Dr Zahid Minhas, Coodinator of National Programme for Hepatitis Control (NPHC), Punjab Dr. Altaf, District Coordinator NPHC Dr. Javed Chaudhary and others delivered lectures to explain various aspects of the disease and informed the participants of the seminar about preventive measures that should be taken to avoid the disease.
The speakers said that there is a need to make public aware of different aspects of the disease. They said that the health experts believe that, unless awareness improves, we would not make any progress in reducing the enormous and largely preventable death toll caused by Hepatitis B or C. Dr Umar said that Hepatitis is a general term that means inflammation (irritation and swelling) of the liver. Inflammation of the liver can result from infection, exposure to alcohol, certain medications, chemicals, poisons, or from a disorder of the immune system.
Dr Altaf in his lecture informed that about 16 million citizens of the country have become patients of the disease while just in one province (Punjab) its ratio is 6 to 7.5 percent which is very high that is why all possible preventive measures must be adopted to control the disease.
The seminar was attended by a large number of healthcare workers, doctors, beauticians, sanitary workers, barbers and general public while the as many as 500 participants were also provided screening facility. The seminar was organised by Gastroenterology and Hepatology Division of the Holy Family Hospital.