DESPITE different initiatives taken by the authorities, the number of accidents on roads and highways is increasing alarmingly. At least 13 people were killed and 22 others injured as a bus collided head-on with a human hauler (Leguna) on Natore-Pabna highway in Baraigram upazila of Natore yesterday. Police said 10 people died on the spot and 25 passengers of both vehicles were injured. Three others succumbed to their injuries on the way to hospital. With the causalities, a number of 44 people have so far been killed and over 200 others received injuries in accidents in the last four days.
The accidents were rampant during the three-day Eid holiday, while six people were killed in a single road crash in Feni on Friday. Besides, another 17 people were killed in two road crashes in Feni and Narsingdi on Monday, a day before the Eid-ul Azha vacation. According to newspaper report, most of the road mishaps during the Eid holiday happened on national and regional highways. Motorcycles were involved in 10 of the 23 incidents while three accidents took place when buses and trucks hit auto-rickshaws and human haulers, on highways where they are banned from plying.
The accidents and causalities on roads and highways is nothing new. The highways become highly risky especially during the Eid holidays. At least 35 people were killed and about 500 others were injured in accidents across the country during 3-day Eid-ul Fitr holidays. We must say, the people in which way are losing their lives it cannot be termed as normal deaths. It is just murders on the open street. According to Accident Research Institute of BUET, 190 people were killed only in 15 days after and before Eid-ul -Fitr last year and the number was 100 during Eid-ul-Azha.
We think the police department and BRTA under the auspices of Road Transport Ministry must increase vigilance on roads and highways during the Eid holiday period when hundreds of thousands of people want to go home managing any mood of transport. The Prime Minister recently has given six directives to reduce accidents but it is not clear whether her directives were followed by the authorities concerned.
