Cause of Lowari Accident: Unsafe Tunnel Traffic Management

CHITRAL: The on going unsafe practice of holding vehicles at the entrance of the Lowari tunnel and then letting them go in in a convoy has caused a major accident where the Deputy Commissioner of Lower Chitral has been seriously injured. The avioidable self created traffic congestion at the Lowari Tunnel is increasingly becoming a potential safety concern.

Vehicles are often invariably stopped at both entrances of the tunnel for a considerable period and are then allowed to enter in convoys. The usual justification is that the tunnel is a one-way passage. But this raises a simple question: How can a convoy of vehicles moving together inside a dark tunnel be safer than vehicles passing through one by one as they approach?

The recent accident inside the tunnel in which the Deputy Commisioner was injured has happened due to letting the trucks inside the dark tunnel in a convoy which created a heavy smoke screen. According to the driver of the accidented car he could not see anything due to convoy of smoke emitting trucks, and thus met with the accident.

About three years ago, the tunnel was allowed to carry traffic in both directions without hinderence for a full one year. There was not a single accident or mishap during this time. Moreover, the tunnel did not appear to suffer from the level of smoke and congestion that is now created when vehicles are held in large convoys.

If the width of the road is the concern, then the same argument should apply to the road between Chakdarra and Timergara. That road is narrower in many places than the tunnel, yet thousands of vehicles, including heavy trailers, travel on it every day in both directions and regularly pass each other. There is no holding up of vehicles at any end. Why, then, should such restrictions be imposed on traffic inside the Lowari Tunnel?

The frequent stopping of passenger vehicles at the tunnel entrance also creates avoidable extreme inconvenience for travellers.
Discretionary powers at such an important public facility should be done away with. Whenever officials are given excessive discretion, they take it upon themselves to create public frustration just for the heck of it and enjoy it.

The Federal Minister for Communications and the Chairman of the National Highway Authority (NHA) should review the present traffic-management system at the Lowari Tunnel entrance and holding vehicles at the entrance should be discontinued forthwith”.. CN report, 03 Oct 2026