Pakistan: Punjab road deaths jump 19% in 2025 as nearly 4,800 killed in traffic crashes

Islamabad, Dec 25 At least 4,791 people have lost their lives in road traffic crashes (RTCs) across Pakistan's Punjab province in 2025, marking a sharp 19 per cent rise in fatalities compared to the previous year, local media report citing data from the country's emergency response service Rescue 1122.

As per the annual statistics released by the emergency service, Punjab recorded 482,870 road traffic accidents in 2025, leaving nearly 570,000 people injured.

In comparison, 467,561 accidents were reported in 2024, leading to 4,139 deaths, while 420,387 crashes in 2023 resulted in 3,967 fatalities.

The data underscored a disturbing pattern as road traffic accidents increased by 5.8 per cent in 2025 -- compared to an 11.9 per cent rise in 2024 -- the deaths surged disproportionately, signalling the growing severity of crashes, leading Pakistani daily Express Tribune reported.

Emergency Services Secretary Rizwan Naseer voiced concern over the findings while chairing an annual operational review meeting focused on road traffic crashes.

"In Pakistan, a road traffic accident occurs almost every minute, and tragically, the primary victims are often the breadwinners of families," Naseer said, describing the situation in Punjab as "extremely alarming".

The meeting was attended virtually by heads of various wings of the emergency services department, the provincial monitoring officer, and district emergency officers (DEOs).

Reports suggest that the statistics showed an increase in RTCs in 34 other districts across Punjab.

According to a briefing by the head of operations, Lahore topped the list of road traffic accidents in 2025, with 88,743 cases, followed by Faisalabad with 32,309 and Multan with 29,804.

On the other hand, Murree recorded 1,889 accidents, while Attock and Jhelum reported 3,748 and 4,301 crashes, respectively.

An analysis of road traffic accidents showed that motorcycles were responsible for 75 per cent of all cases, followed by cars at 8.6 per cent and rickshaws at 4.7 per cent.

Additionally, buses, trucks and vans accounted for 4.3 per cent of the accidents, while 7.4 per cent involved other types of vehicles.

Pedestrians made up 10.34 per cent of road accident victims, underscoring the dangers faced by those walking along or near busy roads.

Rescue 1122 data showed that the majority of injuries involved fractures and head injuries, including 39,250 cases of single fractures, 19,603 head injuries, 8,362 multiple fractures and 1,125 spinal injuries.

Among the 569,901 people injured in road crashes, 80.6 per cent were men and 19.4 per cent were women.

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