TERMING it as the deadliest day, the news media reported that at least 55 people were killed in separate road accidents in different districts across the country on Saturday. Bangladesh Jatri Kallyan Samity said it was the highest number of casualties in a single day in recent times. An 11-member probe body was formed on Sunday to investigate into Saturday’s road crash in Gaibandha where 18 people were killed and 28 others injured.
Although there have been routine campaigns by road safety activists and regular public outcry to make our roads safer, the accidents are happening frequently. The responsible authorities do not feel guilty or accountable for it. Negligence, corruption, and ineptness in traffic management and road construction by Ministries concerned and departments along with reckless driving in bumpy roads are responsible for turning the Eid festivity into a saga of sorrow.
The fatal road accidents during the Eid holidays every year appears to be a never-ending phenomenon. As per news media, the actual figure of casualties often goes unreported. It seems, the losses don’t bother the authorities much as they do nothing substantive to stop the deaths. Meanwhile, the two main reasons for a large number of road accidents, as we have seen from newspaper reports, continue to be traffic mismanagement and reckless driving, in most instances, by bus drivers. On the one hand, the authorities refuse to take punitive actions against bus operators and drivers, all the while leaving victims’ families to pick up the costs of injuries all by themselves. The drivers usually compete with each other to get more passengers. But the drivers often put the blame on the passengers, saying that the passengers constantly hassle them to drive fast, distracting them from focusing on the road.
We think, raising awareness among passengers, discouraging the drivers from having desperate attitudes on the road and changing the owners mindset of renting vehicles to drivers on contractual basis – could be a remedy to get respite from increasing accidents. Side by side, the roads and highways should be constructed keeping adjustment with international standards. And obviously, the persons responsible for accidents should be brought to book.
