Driving during late hours, especially during trying times like these, is no easy feat. And when something extremely crazy happens, it can swear you off driving completely. Something similar happened recently with Mohammad Omar Shahid, a resident of Lahore. Omar shared his goosebumps-inducing experience while driving late on night, at the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway, between Sial service station and Bhera.

Omar was driving around 10.30pm and his car’s left side window was shattered after a loud bang.

“As I crossed the Sial service station and was around 40km away from Bhera, driving at the speed of 120 kms/h, I heard a loud explosion and my passenger seat window burst and glass pieces exploded onto my face and my arm like multiple stings. There was No light, no vision of what happened and no car headlights around for miles. I was stunned and thought it was a bullet fire. I ducked immediately and the car got out of control slightly. So fortunate there wasn’t much traffic on the motorway,” he wrote.

Omar was wise enough not to stop the car until he saw a Motorway patrol vehicle.

To put in Mr. Shahid’s words, “I then stopped as I saw a motorway patrol vehicle and showed them what happened and asked if there was help available. Want to guess their reply? “ Sir Sial station k baad hua ho ga. Aapnay bara acha kiya jo gari nahi roki. Buss seedha jaeyn aur tees (30) kilometer baad Bhera ajaey ga. Wahaan jaa kar pani piyaaey aur Islamabad pohanchay. Iss area k baad aisey nahi ho ga kyu k buss idher hee aisa hota hay, Bhera k baad sab theek hay”. I asked him what this was and why was he so calm about it and he mentioned that dacoits in this area used these tactic so cars would stop and then make the loot and take the vehicle.”

Turns out it was actually a solid piece of rock that was thrown at his car, by the dacoits. It is speculated that this must have been done through a slingshot, given the perfect aim and the consequent damage.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened on the Motorway, considered ultra-safe by most of us, for traveling at night.

Back in 2011, the National Highway and the Motorway Police arrested a four-member dacoit gang and seized all the looted stuff that included illegal arms, snatched mobiles, cash and a lot of similar stuff. Similarly, in 2013, a man and his entire family was attacked by a series of bullets that were shot at their car, while they were traveling to Sargodha to attend a marriage. Luckily, nobody got hurt but the entire experience was traumatizing for everyone included. The part of the Motorway between Sukheki and Pindi Bhattian is specifically notorious for such activities, which sickeningly continues even today.

The point is, while nothing is absolutely secure for normal citizens, especially not during times like we have going on, it is upon us to be careful and the responsibility of the authorities to perform their duties diligently. It is about time that an efficient strategy is devised by the Motorway Police to avert all such gut-wrenching experiences and strive towards making motorway a peaceful region for travelers.

Cover image via: wikimedia