The student movement for safe roads, which escalated after the death of SSC candidate Mainuddin Islam on Monday night, caused gridlocks and long tailbacks in major parts of the capital. Thousands of students from various institutions protested the death of the buddy and demanded safe roads. The demand for safe roads is however old and the government several times assured the millennials to ensure this but no improvement is seen in practice, rather the audacity of the transport workers has increased.
The students allowed private vehicles to pass through after checking driving licences. No bus was allowed to pass. At their temporary checkpoints vehicles of law enforcement agencies, those of government departments and individuals were found driven without licenses. Auto-rickshaw and motorbike drivers refused to take trips to some places fearing jam and other hassles. Statistics show as many as 6,686 people lost their lives and 8,600 others were injured in a total of 4,891 road accidents in 2020 in Bangladesh. The government has done little to stop unlicenced bus drivers or control speed, and failed to arrange separate lanes for slow and fast moving vehicles in highways.
We must admit that the government has failed to make the roads safer for all despite many assurances, the formation of many committees, and obviously many protests. The youths in 2018 showed us what the state should do? Who are responsible for the road accidents? What was the practice of obeying traffic rules among law enforcers and masses? But the government does not take lessons to ramp up the existing laws and execute them accordingly. We have to say, the entire transportation system must be repaired like the roads and highways. Without ensuring a safe journey, no achievement would be counted by the youths as the right of life is the first and foremost human right.
