The capital city appears to have turned into a bus station. The buses allegedly stop anywhere in the city at the drivers' wish now. Even the passengers, in many cases, are forced to get down from the running buses.
The anarchy in transport sector has, indeed, reached an intolerable height. Many are now saying that there ought to be someone at the policy-making level to realise the gravity of the issue and do the needful on a priority basis.
However, safety on the roads is again put in question following rising number of deaths in accidents including that of senior journalist and Advisory Editor of this paper Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury who was killed in the capital on November 29.
Indeed, an alarming rise in road accidents in the city in recent times has triggered grave concern among people from all sections of the society. At least 16 people lost their valuable lives in the last five days.
According to the official data, at least 950 pedestrians were killed in 1,102 accidents in the city since 2009. About 1,997 road accidents occurred across the country during the January-September period of 2014 which claimed 2,132 lives and caused critical injuries to 1,743 others. However, the number of unreported road accidents, causing deaths and irreparable physical injuries, is unknown to all concerned.
There is no denying that drivers' reckless driving is responsible for road mishaps but increased awareness of pedestrians and passengers is essential too. In fact, reckless driving, movement of unfit vehicles, gross violation and poor enforcement of traffic rules and regulations and lack of awareness among road users are to blame for the situation.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has, of late, acknowledged the increasing number of road accidents in the capital, saying that the situation did not improve even after 'strengthening' monitoring to some extent. It admitted that the police was unable to bring discipline in roads alone amid limitations. Transport owners, drivers, passengers and pedestrians should come up with cooperation in this regard, it said.
Strict implementation of the country's existing laws, as transport analysts have observed, is required to help prevent rising number of accidents. They say some infrastructural designs like flyover, overpass etc., were made without paying due attention to the space for pedestrians.
The Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover project was implemented after demolishing a foot-over-bridge on Jatrabari intersection without going for any alternative. In the same way, the Mouchak-Malibagh flyover is being built by bulldozing another key foot-over-bridge on busy Moghbazar intersection. The space for movement of pedestrians is being squeezed in such a way that forces the pedestrians to cross the streets to meet road-based tragedies.
Very recently, the government launched a drive against jaywalkers although most of the foot-over-bridges in the capital have been grabbed by hawkers with their makeshift shops, creating hassles for the commuters.
According to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of the BUET, the national loss is estimated at Tk 50-70 billion every year because of road accidents. Almost 30 per cent of the national healthcare budget is used for road crash victims incurring a financial loss to the economy equivalent to 2.0 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
Meantime, the stakeholders, attending the emergency meeting called by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) following the death of journalist Zaglul, tried to shift the responsibility of road mishaps to law enforcing agencies and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC), consequent upon their failure to check the tendency of jaywalkers to cross roads and attitude of the drivers to drop and pick passengers from the middle of the roads.
However, the road transport and bridges minister, attending the meeting, highlighted the achievement of the BRTA's drives against unfit vehicles and called upon the owners to advise their drivers to check reckless driving and pay attention to the road safety.
There is, in fact, a strong need for increasing the road capacity of the national highways including that of Dhaka-Chittagong to accommodate traffic volume and set up speed breakers and road dividers as unplanned erection of such structures often cause accidents.
As citizens, passengers also do have a role to play in ensuring road safety. While travelling by public-private transports, passengers should protest and stop speeding and reckless driving of vehicles. Owners of motor vehicles should ensure that their employed drivers have genuine licences, are properly trained and drive responsibly. Road safety education to pedestrians, especially children and involving community leaders, is also a good way to advance the cause.
There is no denying that road accidents in Bangladesh are on the rise in recent years and are widely feared to aggravate further unless some urgent actions are taken. Motorised traffic is growing very rapidly in the country, with 400 new automobiles coming on to roads every day. Over the decade the number of vehicles may be doubled.
Although road traffic fatalities do raise commotion, they hardly lead to any comprehensive or sustained actions by the authorities concerned. It is most likely that the tragedies that occurred very recently on the highways will be forgotten soon, without prompting any effective actions by such authorities.
A close look will certainly reveal a clear lack of accountability everywhere. The drivers seem to believe they can get away with road traffic fatalities. On the other hand, the law enforcers do not always show the desired urgency to enforce the rules and regulations to penalise the violators.
In order to ensure safety on the roads, an effective and comprehensive system of accountability has to be put in place. That will make it possible not only to force the reckless drivers to face the music for their actions but also to bring the law enforcers to book for their inactions.
zkhan@dhaka.net
Addressing anarchy in transport sector
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Published: December 04, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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