Six people, including five members of a family, were killed and three others injured in a road accident on the Rajbari-Kushtia Highway on Wednesday morning. The accident occurred when a truck collided with a battery-run easy-bike and then a private car on the highway. The seven family members were passengers of the easy bike, which was being driven by another deceased. Through this havoc, a family with three generations perished, and there is no visible party with whom we shoulder the responsibility for the accident. Our inadequate policy, user-friendly infrastructure, rules, and lack of execution are to be blamed.
On Sunday ten people were killed in a bus accident in Barishal due to reckless driving. Road accidents are continuing to rise in the country due to a number of factors, which include plying of unfit vehicles on the road, reckless driving, lack of skilled drivers, mental and physical illness of drivers, insufficient benefits for drivers, slow vehicular movement on highways, careless bike riding by youths, ineffective traffic management system, and a lack of awareness among people.
Meetings after meetings were held to define how to manage roads and highways safely, assurances poured, commitments made and unmade, pages of calendars turned, and tales of surprising development told but no effective measures have been taken to stop road accidents in the decades of ceaseless road accidents. A high-powered task force, formed to tackle road crashes and bring discipline to the sector, in its second meeting in December 2020 decided that transport workers have to be given appointment letters following the newly enacted Road Safety Act 2018. When it comes to enforcement, this is a big zero.
We do not want to hear any assurance and plans, rather wish to see implementation and outcome. How does a state remain so apathetic to its citizens’ life when the constitution depicts it as the highest priority? Without ensuring a safe journey, no achievement would be counted as the right to living is the first and foremost right.
