THIS newspaper on Wednesday reported that at least 15 persons including five in Rajbari were killed and 60 others injured in road accidents across the country. Of them, five people were killed and 30 others received injuries in a face-to-face collision between two buses in Kalukhali upazila in Rajbari. In another incident, two buses of opposite direction collided head on in Durgapur area leaving two dead. Besides, three persons including two motorcyclists were killed in two separate road crashes in Abhoynagar upazila. In another one, a father and his son were killed and three other family members injured as a bus rammed into a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Chakaria upazila in Cox’s Bazar. The rest were killed in Netrakona and Naogaon.
Fatal road accidents have become too common nowadays. Innocent people are getting killed on the roads but the authorities concerned feel no pain for the loss. We’ve penned down the issue several times with urging to make the roads and highways safe, but it failed to reach the ears of relevant ministry. If we want to find out the reasons behind road accidents, it is seen that — reckless driving, over speeding, overloading, overtaking, violating laws, competition, long-time driving, use of drug and alcohol, unskilled drivers, hazardous road, lack of safety measures, poor implementation of traffic rules, lack of awareness among the people, and plying of three wheeler-vehicles, motorbikes, and locally-made mechanized vehicles – are mainly responsible.
The condition of roads and highways is so miserable that it becomes almost unusable during rainy season. At present, the highways are highly risky due to dense fog and dust but no fog light communication system has been developed to tackle the situation. Every year government gives Tk 25000/30000 crore to the ministry concerned to keep the roads and highways up-to-date. But we don’t know where the money goes.
The government has failed to prove competence to stop killings on the highways. It has no accountability to the people so it has no reason to feel concerned about the chaos and deaths on the roads. The government is facing no problem for making the people victims of road accidents. As their votes are not important to the government, so the lives of the people are not important to them. We therefore do not make any appeal to the government which is futile.
Fatal road accidents have become too common nowadays. Innocent people are getting killed on the roads but the authorities concerned feel no pain for the loss. We’ve penned down the issue several times with urging to make the roads and highways safe, but it failed to reach the ears of relevant ministry. If we want to find out the reasons behind road accidents, it is seen that — reckless driving, over speeding, overloading, overtaking, violating laws, competition, long-time driving, use of drug and alcohol, unskilled drivers, hazardous road, lack of safety measures, poor implementation of traffic rules, lack of awareness among the people, and plying of three wheeler-vehicles, motorbikes, and locally-made mechanized vehicles – are mainly responsible.
The condition of roads and highways is so miserable that it becomes almost unusable during rainy season. At present, the highways are highly risky due to dense fog and dust but no fog light communication system has been developed to tackle the situation. Every year government gives Tk 25000/30000 crore to the ministry concerned to keep the roads and highways up-to-date. But we don’t know where the money goes.
The government has failed to prove competence to stop killings on the highways. It has no accountability to the people so it has no reason to feel concerned about the chaos and deaths on the roads. The government is facing no problem for making the people victims of road accidents. As their votes are not important to the government, so the lives of the people are not important to them. We therefore do not make any appeal to the government which is futile.
