Non-reactive to road accidents

People's imperviousness seems to have reached a high point. Or else the nation could not remain so unconcerned about the daily toll of road accidents. Hardly a day now passes when the road casualties come down to a figure fewer than double digits. The other day, a family of five travelling in a car perished in an accident involving it and another vehicle. On that day 13 other people did not return home alive from their journey. And it was not just an exceptional day by any rate; just one typical day of fatal road accidents in today's Bangladesh.

What is most bewildering is that news of such road accidents and casualties no longer shake people to the core. As if they have stoically accepted the fact of life's impermanence! Not at all. It is the resignation to something monstrous that cannot be prevented or corrected. For a moment thoughtful people feel the chill running down their spine. They can imagine themselves in a situation where the accidents take place. "I or we could be there in place of those victims" runs the thought process.

For others not so introspective, such sad events hardly leave an impact. They go about their business as usual without ever taking a moment's pause. So self-engrossed or self-possessed they are that it is difficult to tell if they are at all perturbed by such fatalities. The impression is that as long as the danger does not come nearer, there is no reason for being unduly concerned. Or, they even could not care less for or did not have enough time to waste on such negative developments of life.

If that is the case, the confidence on display is surely laudable. But if this is simply callousness, not taking life in its stride, it is a dangerous proclivity. Even the growing menace of avoidable annihilation of people in such a manner does not make them reactive. Indeed, people have forgotten to react to such tragedies. When some celebrities or people in high positions fall victim to road accidents, the media coverage gets extensive creating a charged psychological atmosphere dragging all and sundry into its vortex. In reality, it is a media hype made all the more sensational rather than anything substantive for an objective analysis. The real issue of road accidents with all the frailties responsible for the tragedies slips out of collective consciousness. This is further taken off target by the entry of politics on to the scene.  

Political interests prevail upon an authentic reality check-up. Thus the causes of road accidents remain unaddressed. As long as the situation continues to be so ungovernable, accidents will be taking place on roads in an ever increasing number. When such accidents become a daily affair, people also are expected to become tired of reacting to those. They become impervious, knowing that there is no remedy. Since they are incapable of taking any action in order to correct the distressing situation, let it be accepted as such.

In the process, however, as a nation the Bangalees are destined to be blunt, losing their sense and sensibilities. They are said to be an emotional people. It seems a reverse process has already set in and no one knows where it will end up.