A media report said a woman was killed after she was hit by a motorcycle while crossing a road near the Ramna Park in the capital on Friday evening. A diabetes patient, the woman aged 50 was crossing the road on her way back home in the city’s Bijoynagar area after taking a walk in the park. She was hit by a speeding motorcycle that dragged her several yards leaving her critically injured. Later doctors at Dhaka Medical College Hospital declared her dead. Another woman accompanying her narrowly survived. We are shocked at the killing and wonder when such killings on city streets will end. We saw the killing of a SSC examinee in the last week-end by a running bus on the DIT road in Rampura area following the crushing of a Notre Dame College student under the wheels by a Dhaka South City Corporation dustcart one week before.
It appears that killing on city streets under the wheels of running buses is going on with student protests having no impact on vehicle owners or drivers. This time a running motorcycle caused the fatal death causing irreparable loss to a family. Motorcycles in huge numbers in city streets are a new threat to people and there is hardly any guarantee that one will return home safely. Young people recklessly run bikes on pleasure drives almost without taking notice of people around. Thousands others run bikes on remunerative jobs to reach ride sharers to their destinations often causing fatal accidents. What is noticeable is that they are not at all mindful of traffic rules and other safety precautions and police on the streets also ignore reckless driving.
Accidents on roads are only rising and we must say that it can’t be allowed to continue. Traffic rules must be strictly enforced and police must be effectively held accountable to enforce rules or face rigorous punishment. Traffic rules have become ineffective because violators can sidetrack them as the administration at all levels is not accountable to people. They are tied to vested interest groups – be it to the powerful bus owners association or drivers’ union while largely overlooking accidents caused by bikers on the road. We would say a civilised society can’t ignore anarchy on city streets. Killers must be punished.
