It is not unusual for the most joyous moments turning into a nightmare or tragedy. Whoever is involved, the sense of loss reverberates across the known circles and beyond. When none other than young children become the casualty, the poignancy of the loss becomes even more intense and wrenching. The death of seven children and injury to 47 others when a bus carrying school students of Benapole Government Primary School on a study tour lost control and fell into a pond have cast a pal of gloom all across the country. Accidents take tolls on a regular basis in this God-forsaken country and people have become more or less shock-proof to this kind of unnatural deaths. Yet the death of young ones in accidents like this leaves people terribly upset and saddened.
Any death at the prime of life is unacceptable. When a number of children or young lives perish under unnatural circumstances, a sense of helplessness and futility of life together overwhelmingly invades senses. After all, the sense of impermanence of life deepens. When lives so young come to an end at a time when they were supposed to be enjoying the moment after a much cherished study tour, it only points to a kind of heavenly conspiracy to upset all plans and prospects man can prepare for themselves. Yet it would be an injustice if the human part in such tragedies is not recognised. Admittedly, the country's road journey is one of the most unsafe in the world. The men at the wheel of public buses and trucks are not qualified enough to do the job. Not only are they deficient in education and training but they are also reckless because their values as human beings leave much to be desired.
The driver of the ill-fated bus at Chowgachhia is reported to have lost control of the bus for apparently no compelling reason. He simply was not up to the task. Now there is no mention if the speed of the bus was beyond the approved limit or the bus had to avoid a collision with another vehicle. This means that the driver was either careless or inexperienced or both. The other possibility may be that he was too tired to perform the task. When so many small children are his passengers, the driver had to be extra-cautious. Apparently he was not.
True, some accidents are inevitable for a number of reasons but in this country a majority are avoidable. If drivers become more responsible, they can perform better. But the overall situation is not always in favour of improving their performance. When drivers are asked to sit behind the wheel after a gap of half an hour to two hours on completion of his duty-sometimes night duty --on a long route, what kind of performance one can expect from a driver. At times they have to struggle hard to keep them awake. Against this awful condition, just consider the drivers of the air conditioned luxury buses. They have adequate rest and are well paid. No wonder, records of such buses are enviable. Not a single accident involving such buses of the reputed companies can be cited.
What does it point to? The point here is that there is a need for doing away with the systemic weaknesses in the transport sector. If the overall conditions are targeted for improvement with special emphasis on education, training and payment of drivers, transport service is bound to improve reducing the rate of accidents. Sure enough, one cannot suggest that a special breed of drivers will be available and they will be paid at the rate of the AC buses in service, but at least the chaos and mismanagement can be taken care of in order to make road journey much safer.
Providence plays a part but man is no less responsible
Nilratan Halder | Published: March 01, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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