- 189 - Bi-Annual Research Journal “BALOCHISTAN REVIEW” ISSN 1810-2174 Balochistan Study Centre, UoB, Quetta (Pakistan) VOL. XXXII NO.1, 2015 Causes of Road Accidents in Makran Coastal Highway Balochistan Social Sciences Siraj Bashir 1 Abstract According to World Health Organization (WHO), road traffic accidents (RTAs) are a global public health issue. Currently ranked ninth, RTAs are predicted to the fifth leading cause of death in 2030. Every year more than one million people die worldwide because of RTAs more than 2500 deaths every day. 90 % of the RTA related fatalities occur in low and middle income country." This study explores the causes of road accidents in Makran Coastal Highway. A large number of people are killed and injured on our roads. Road accidents are becoming public health issues, unreasonably affecting a large groups of people, especially bus users. Main causes which are found behind these road accidents are unskilled drivers, use of cell phone during driving, lack of interest of government, rash driving, use of drugs, and over-loading. If these causes are tackled in a good way then it is possible to minimize the road accidents and it can save thousands precious lives. Key words: Road accidents, Public health, Makran Coastal Highway Introduction and Literature Review "The Makran Coastal Highway is a 653 km-long; which is located in Balochistan, Pakistan. It follows the Arabian Sea coast from Karachi to Gwadar. Previously there was a muddy track linking Karachi with the town of Gwadar. Journeys between the two could take several days as the safest route was to travel via Quetta. The journey time has now been reduced to six or seven hours with the construction of the Makran Coastal Highway (National Highway N10). The highway was built as part of an overall plan to improve transport facilities in southern Balochistan. Since, the construction of Makran coastal highway, there is an alarming increase in accidents and deaths. Fatality risk in Makran coastal Highway is 1 PhD Scholar University of Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan. Email:siraj.bashirrind@gmail.com