Md. Zillur Rahaman: Students are again protesting, blocking roads and demanding roads safety. It started when a student of Notre Dame College named Naeem Hasan was killed in a collision with a garbage truck of Dhaka South City Corporation at Gulistan in the capital. The tragic accident took place on November 24 when he was hit by a garbage truck heading towards Gulistan Zero Point while crossing the road in front of Gulistan Hall Market. Naeem was seriously injured and he was rapidly rushed to the Dhaka Medical College Hospital where he was pronounced dead at the scene.
In just one day later after the above incident a motorcyclist lost his life again when Ahsan Kabir Khan, a computer operator of Daily Sangbad, was hit by a garbage truck of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) just opposite of Bashundhara City Complex in the capital. According to eyewitnesses, the DNCC garbage truck was stuck with all the other vehicles. Pulls a motorcycle in the signal just without the signal and Mr. Khan, who was on a motorcycle, fell on the spot. He was on the back of the bike, the wheel of the car went over his head and he died on the spot.
Following the death of Naeem Hassan, a meritorious student of Notre Dame College, students of various schools and colleges across the city have been blocking roads and protesting demanding road safety. The agitating students are saying that discipline should be restored on the road and need to ensure safe roads. As if no one’s life falls on the road like this and no mother’s lap should be empty. In this way, no meritorious student dies prematurely. Naeem has been crushed on the road, you and I will be killed today or tomorrow. So, discipline is needed on the road and it can’t go on like this. The killer must face a speedy trial.
However, before that, in 2018, there was a massive movement from July 29 to August 8, 2018 demanding road safety and effective road security across the country. Rajib and Dia, two students of Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College, were killed then and 10 others were injured when two speeding buses collided on the airport road in Dhaka on July 29. The protest, which started with the classmates of the two college students killed in the road accident, later spread across the country and the students took to the streets demanding nine points including the resignation of the then shipping minister.
| ব্যাংক, ব্যাংকার, ব্যাংকিং, অর্থনীতি ও ফাইন্যান্স বিষয়ক গুরুত্বপূর্ণ খবর, প্রতিবেদন, বিশেষ কলাম, বিনিয়োগ/ লোন, ডেবিট কার্ড, ক্রেডিট কার্ড, ফিনটেক, ব্যাংকের নিয়োগ বিজ্ঞপ্তি ও বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংকের সার্কুলারগুলোর আপডেট পেতে আমাদের অফিসিয়াল ফেসবুক পেজ 'ব্যাংকিং নিউজ', ফেসবুক গ্রুপ 'ব্যাংকিং ইনফরমেশন', 'লিংকডইন', 'টেলিগ্রাম চ্যানেল', 'ইন্সটাগ্রাম', 'টুইটার', 'ইউটিউব', 'হোয়াটসঅ্যাপ চ্যানেল' এবং 'গুগল নিউজ'-এ যুক্ত হয়ে সাথে থাকুন। |
In fact, the road transport system in Bangladesh is very chaotic and prone to accidents, which is clearly visible in the bus services of the capital Dhaka. From 2015 to July 2018, 25,000 people were killed and about 62,000 injured in road accidents across the country. According to a research conducted by BUET, 53% of these road accidents are due to speeding; 37% due to reckless behavior of the driver and the remaining 10% due to vehicle defects and environment.
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the number of legal vehicles operating in the country in 2018 was 35 lakh 42 thousand, but the number of valid licensed drivers is only 26 lakh 40 thousand, i.e., about 9 lakh vehicles are driven by unlicensed drivers. In addition, the number of vehicles without fitness in the country is 4 lakh 99 thousand. Due to these reasons, road accidents continue to increase. Rajib, who lost his hand in a bus crash in the last few months, Payel was thrown into the river by a bus helper, Syed Masood Rana was injured in a bus crash, two college students were killed in a bus crash on Airport Road and the latest death of Notre Dame College meritorious student was widely criticized and protested.
The ‘Nirapad Sarak Chai (Want Safe Roads)’ movement was born on October 22, 1993, before 28 years ago today. Actor Ilyas Kanchan formed this movement after losing his wife Jahanara Kanchan in a tragic road accident. The cabinet meeting on June 5, 2017 decided to observe October 22 as National Road Safety Day. Since then the day has been celebrated nationally. Every year the people’s demand to make the roads and highways of the country safer through the observance of this day. However, the question is, are the people getting any benefit? How safe we have made the road!
Every day in the country, lives are falling in road accidents, many are living a miserable life after being injured. The death march in the accident is not stopping at all. We have heard of various steps being taken by the government to prevent accidents. But the accident did not decrease and reckless traffic did not stop. This means that there are many flaws in the measures taken to prevent accidents or to make them effective. It is very important to eliminate them. The rate of road accidents is very high in the country. According to one statistic, 80 percent of road accidents are caused by non-stop driving, speeding and carelessness of the driver. This is the rule for a driver to rest after four or five hours of continuous driving but no driver in the country follows this rule. As a result, when a tired driver drives a car, the risk of an accident is naturally higher. This is mainly due to the excessive business attitude of the bus owners. The government needs strict surveillance to curb this trend.
In an interview with the BBC Bangla in September 2016, a bus driver blamed the extra sleep of the drivers for most of the road accidents in Bangladesh. He said that the drivers are very tired due to working 24 hours a day. Drivers also get tired due to the hot air of the engine and the noise from outside and around. Moreover, after being on duty all night, we had to drive again the next morning. How can a person drive 24 hours a day? Even if you close your eyes for a second, the situation is very bad! The accident happened in a moment. Trip custom is responsible for this. As far as the journey is concerned, a driver has to handle it. Due to such extra work, he fell asleep and had an accident. According to him, if the driver’s duty is fixed at a maximum of 12 hours or less, then the number of accidents will be greatly reduced.
Bangladesh Jatrikalyan Samiti works on road safety, security and passengers welfare. The organization has identified nine causes for road accidents, including reckless speeding. Notable among these are reckless speed of vehicles, unfit vehicles and carrying passengers in freight vehicles, disobeying the decision to stop freight vehicles, driving with incompetent drivers and helpers. The organization also made 12 recommendations to reduce accidents. Recommendations include stopping extra fares, training of drivers, banning motorcycles during Eid, maintaining monitoring activities after Eid, ensuring driver-worker pay-bonuses and working hours, and building the National Road Safety Council into effective institutions.
The people have long demanded the enactment of a timely road transport law to prevent accidents. The law has been passed but it is not being implemented properly. There is no precedent for severe punishment for those responsible for the accident. The committee made 111 recommendations to restore order in the road transport sector and control accidents, which were not fully implemented. Even Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina herself gave six point instructions in June 2018. Instructions are to keep alternate drivers in long-distance vehicles, not to drive a driver for more than five hours, to arrange training for the driver and his assistant, to set up service centers or restrooms on the side of the road at certain distances, to stop irregularly or to obey signals, Ensure the use of zebra crossings and fastening of seatbelts for drivers and passengers.The Prime Minister assigned three ministers to ensure that these directives are implemented. Unfortunately, the Prime Minister’s logical instructions to prevent road accidents have not been properly implemented. It seems that the cows in the barn are in the book but not in reality.
Road safety is a very important national issue. However, the matter is not getting much importance from the authority concerned, due to which the number of accidents is not decreasing. The demands of the victims, the six-point directive of the Prime Minister, restoration of discipline in the road transport sector and the 111 recommendations of the relevant committee on accident control need to be implemented expeditiously. Road transport laws need to be properly implemented. If this is not done, there will be no greatness in celebrating ‘National Road Safety Day’ every year. Every day on the road someone will be killed, the death procession will continue to grow and from time to time the student movement will continue to struggle for safe roads.
Md. Zillur Rahaman is a Banker and Freelance Columnist.
