It was an unfortunate day of October 2009, when a suicide bomber hit the cafeteria of International Islamic University Islamabad. Around twenty-two girls and two workers of the café lost their lives on the spot. Rescue work was caried out by Police and para medics, volunteers from the staff and students of the university also reached the spot to help them. One of the volunteers was a driver of the university, who was not in the premises at the time of incident. When he came to know about the incident, he rushed to join the rescue work. The heart wrenching sight of dead bodies, blood, scattered parts of human bodies badly affected his nerves and after a couple of days he passed away. Apparently, he did not die in the blast but became a direct victim of it. His nerves did not bear the tragedy and his nerves system collapsed resulting in a heart failure.
Same is the case with a lot of other victims of our pathetic traffic system. A large number of people travel on roads and they have to bear traffic congestion, noises, vehicles spreading poisonous smoke, poor road conditions that are all big threats to general and mental health of the masses.
The researchers have reported in their researches that a large number patients with pathetic pulmonary issues are found in hospitals. Mant of them passed away because of severity of the disease and heavy pollution in the air. In most of the under developed countries like our there is no specific check for the conditions of vehicles. A large number of outdated vehicles that are not well maintained can be seen on roads. Secondly another issue that is rarely addressed is of defective fuel. A large number of petrol pumps have been caught selling low quality petroleum products that are highly injurious for human health and damaging for the vehicles. The standard density for petrol has been set on 730-770 kg/m3, but unfortunately it is found on very fuel stations. Adulteration of petroleum products has not affected the vehicles but also has ruined the health of people. Smoke emitted by the vehicles contains heavy amount of Carbon Monoxide that causes diseases like Lungs Cancer, Asthma and Bronchitis that can cause death and issues in breathing. This contaminated air is highly dangerous for infants and toddlers and severely affect their growth and general health that directly lower down their proficiency in learning.
Epidemiological studies have revealed a very strong connection between coronary heart diseases and pollution. Polluted air is heterogeneous combination of gases, dust and carbon. It has been found that many plausible mechanistic pathways like enhanced coagulative thrombosis, arrythmias, acute arterial vasoconstriction, inflammation and many other highly fatal heart diseases are caused because of air pollution that is caused by faulty vehicles and fuel.
The biggest peril associated with traffic congestion is mental stress. Miss managed traffic that causes traffic jams and traffic congestion is one of the major causes of mental stress. The human brain controls the whole body and regulates the functioning of all body organs. The stress on brain and nervous system directly affects each and every organ of the body. Excessive stress immediately increases the blood pressure of a human being that often results in heart failure or brain hem ridge that can causes on the spot death or a lifelong disability.
A large number of researches have shown that the drivers of busses and trucks have the minimum work life. The reason is their poor health condition as long hours of driving, inhaling polluted air and extreme stress due to traffic weakens their nerves and they lose their ability to work and often cause accidents. Noise of the vehicles and loud music also enhance the situation.
Traffic noise, honking horns are also a big reason of unrest and anxiety among people. Heavy duty vehicles like trucks, busses and heavy bike create a lot of loud noise and many public transport services play heavy music that is very stressful for human nerves. Truck drivers play heavy music to keep them awake on long routes that not only create sleep deprivation but also damage the central nerves system that is extremely dangerous for overall health of human beings.
In general, the statistical calculation of deaths on roads includes the causalities due to road accidents only. That is not the right picture there is a large number of people who suffer from chronic diseases mentioned in this article and live a miserable life and breath their last in early ages. Traffic congestion, pollution, noise all add a lot of health hazards to the lives of innocent citizens. A well planned traffic system is not only required for road safety but is also needed for general health condition of masses.