Mir Abdul Alim :
Has been a lot I thought the road might be safer this time. Road is not safe. It has become more insecure. Illegal drivers have become even more adventurous. They are killing people every day. The father of two daughters of the same family was killed on Saturday (December 26th) on Fauzdarhat bypass road of Dhaka-Chittagong highway at Sitakunda. Mother and son are undergoing treatment in a hospital when Joint Director of Bangladesh Bank late Saifuzzaman’s family met the tragic end of life on the way back to Dhaka from Bandarban when their private car crashed.
How many Saifuzzaman deaths are occurring in this country? Every day precious lives are being lost on the roads. Rajiv’s hands are going, somebody’s feet are going, heads are going, Mishuk Munir, Saifur Rahman’s life is going. Death procession does not stop. We say ahhhh for a special or two. Do you keep searching how many Khalid, how many hearts are crippled, giving life? Why are we not preventing the procession of death? Ministers, MPs rushed to their relatives or bodies in the only incidental incident. We do Mayakana; What is the profit?
Any death is tragic. If that death is premature and sudden, it is more difficult to accept. Not only do we have to witness premature death one after another in the face of road accidents, we also have to deal with a terrible and anarchic situation which is not desirable for any of us. We expect a conscientious, aware, strong and responsible role from the transport owners and law enforcement agencies in preventing road accidents.
In this country, the law is never applied. Sadly, the truth is that the road transport leaders control the law in this country. What is even more disturbing is that the top leader of the government in the country is the top leader in the road transport. New laws have been made to make roads safer. It was supposed to begin implementation on
November 7. I heard the roar of bullying in the beginning. Later, I noticed that the government and the administration’s law enforcement activities were stopped at the bankruptcy of the labor leaders. Ilias Kanchan, the founder of ‘Want a safer road’, came down in protest with the threat of Shahjahan Khan. Road movement has stopped. So the road is more reckless driver than ever. What happens is on the road.
Occasionally, when it comes to law enforcement; In the event of a major accident, the government heard the call of the palace, I was satisfied that the road was safe. Thousands of movements, strikes, rallies, rallies, no matter what, for safe roads; Roads are no longer safe.
Recently, the High Court has directed that unlicensed cars be stopped on the road. Fitness cars are still on the road. However, the number of vehicles on the road was reduced as the campaign against the unsuitable vehicle. Citing the suffering of the people, the Minister for Roads and Bridge Obaidul Quader said, “We are thinking deeply about alternative arrangements.” But it is only a sign of the government going the opposite way. If the government is relaxed, if the law is not implemented, then people will die on the road.
Road accidents in this country are due to man-made reasons. As a result of the road accident victims are indirectly killed. But there is no intention to identify the killers and bring them under exemplary punishment. As a result, road accidents are increasing geometrically.
During the Ershad government, road accidents increased at an unusual rate when the government enforced stricter laws against the driver. It contained provisions for the driver to be killed in case of death of someone in a road accident due to negligence in the charge of the driver. But the government was forced to abolish the movement of transport workers. Road accidents in this country have increased at an alarming rate due to penalties of responsible drivers, violations of traffic laws, driving by unlicensed and unskilled drivers, driving on unfit cars, road misconduct, etc. The examples of drivers involved in the accident are very shining. In all cases the responsible drivers have passed.
In the last five years as a government, people have been killed in road accidents. Every year 5 thousand and 5 people die. The information has been disclosed to the responsible persons on account of the accident that has been filed in the police station. Twenty-five thousand people die in road accidents every year as a private. On an average, about 5 people die every day. The reason for the wide gap between the government information and the privately obtained information is that after the accident, the responsible people have to collect the answers to such questions and submit the report. Due to this disturbance many deaths are not properly recorded. According to the police data, from January 27 to September, 2000 people died in road accidents. Thousands were seriously injured and 3 were seriously injured. According to another report, the number of road accidents in the country from 25 to 25 has been 12 thousand 5. 12 thousand 5 people died. Thousands more people were injured and crippled. According to an international data released on the 27th, the highest number of road accidents in eight countries in Asia, Europe and Australia is higher in Nepal, the second in Bangladesh. The lowest rate is in the UK.
According to the statistics, 4 people died in Nepal and 1 in Bangladesh in the accident of every 1,000 registered vehicles. In the UK, the rate is only 9.7 percent.
According to a recent study on road accidental damage, road accidents cost more than Tk 1 billion crore a year. This rate is equal to 5.7 percent of GDP. Road accidents in Bangladesh are 3 percent higher than those in developed countries. Another research survey found that 5 percent of passengers were responsible for road accidents.
(Mir Abdul Alim, journalist, researcher and columnist)
