Show more urgency to cut rates of death
A committee has been formed to investigate the head-on collision between two passenger buses, which killed over 32 people and injured dozens more, in an accident on the Banpara-Hatikumrul highway in Baraigram upazila on Monday afternoon.
It is all very well the government promptly promising financial assistance and help to victims and their families, but condolences and compensation are not enough.
The government must take road safety much more seriously.
It is a scandal that authorities do not take more pro-active action to reduce road accidents. Bangladesh has one of the worst rates of death and injury per vehicle distance travelled in the world.
Studies by BUET and the World Bank indicate that the number of deaths each year far exceeds 10,000 lives and is likely to rise much higher if action is not taken.
The main factors behind these grim figures are obvious, as are the solutions, given experience from other countries which have consistently been able to reduce their accident rates.
Clearly many roads are not fit for purpose. Analysis by Brac and the Power and Participation Research Centre of available statistics shows that fatality rates are worst on major highways. Road networks between major centres need to be wider and better built in order to accommodate overtaking vehicles.
Just as important, the fact that despite the lack of safe road space, many vehicles habitually speed and overtake dangerously, is a by-product of the poor driving habits tolerated in the country.
We must have more effective laws to deter and punish careless and reckless driving.
It is unconscionable that more urgency is not shown to tackle these problems and make the country’s roads safer.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
