---- By Wadud Khan
DEMANDING ‘safety roads’ has become a common expectation in Bangladesh for all walks of life irrespective of caste, creed, religion and political parties. Each year innumerable innocent people are falling a great victim to car crash. No measure is still looking effective to prevent such devastating incidents. No light of hope is still vivid in the gloomy sky of Bangladesh regrading road accidents.
There are many reasons to cause road accidents. Reckless driving is one of the most fatal causes of it. Narrow roads, disobeying traffic rules, lack of proper training for driving, unnecessary overtaking tendency, mismanagement in highways are also responsible for car crashes. Some motor-bikers look desperate while driving in the busy roads.
If we closely imagine how much sufferings are brought about by road accidents, we cannot but shed our tears silently. Many people have become crippled, many wives have become widows, many innocent kids have become orphans, many parents have lost their only child and become hopeless due to road accidents. Man must die today or tomorrow. There is no way to escape death. But as a human being, everybody wants to die a natural death. No unnatural death is acceptable to anybody. But who cares?
There are some laws regarding road accidents but no drivers, passersby is willing to follow the existing laws. Some experts and researchers like Illias Kanchon propose many ideas to decrease road accidents and lessen the loss of it. The general people are quite ignorant of traffic rules. That’s why they do not abide by the rules. Even in many cases, the helpers of a car often drive in absence of the main drivers.
Some days ago, in August, 2018, many school children throughout the country have come out of their classrooms to protest against road accidents because their two classmates have been killed by a careless driver. The guardians, university students also support their non-violent movement. The school kids stand on the highways and check many cars and find out that most of the cars have no fitness, no road permission, no driving licenses. Even the Members of Parliament, govt officials, actors or actresses, intellectuals, journalists do not abide by the traffic rules. The whole nation becomes speechless to see the terrific situation of the traffic. In spite of having a lot of over bridge in Dhaka or other mega city, the common people are very reluctant to use that to avoid road crashes.
A new law has recently been passed to lessen the road accidents and to ensure the safety roads. This law will also control the unlawful activities of the drivers and the car-owners. It will ensure severe punishment for those who intentionally cause road accidents. Though the law is now active, road accidents still continue. Even yesterday, on 25 August, 2018, at least 25 people have been killed and many were severely injured due to several road crashes all over the country. No laws can save us if all kinds of people do not become aware of the severe sufferings of road accidents. We all are waiting for a better Bangladesh having safety roads.
