Buses on the wrong side of roads
Thursday, 21 May 2015
On May 19 afternoon, I, along with my colleague, was walking down Road 11 of Banani from Gulshan 2 to reach Kakoli bus stand. As we reached the point where Road 11 meets the main road between Kakoli and Mohakhali, we found that the other side of the road leading to Kakoli was full of traffic. However, on my side which leads to Mohakhali was quite free. Suddenly a decrepit double-decker bus carrying Jagannath University students towards Kakoli forcefully got into the wrong side defying traffic rules in spite of a traffic policemen standing there and then headed for Kakoli.
I was surprised and raised my hands in trying to stop the driver. Instantly the students from inside the bus showed some funny body languages to suggest that they did not care. I went to the traffic policeman and asked him why he allowed the double-decker to get into the wrong side. He replied helplessly that these double-deckers carrying students do not care for traffic laws.
In fact the students force the drivers to do so. The traffic policeman told me that on many occasions they tried doing so and the result was some violent reactions from the students. So this is the reality of the buses carrying the students of Dhaka University and Jagannath University. Is there any concerned authority to address the problem?
Shazzad Khan
Gulshan-2, Dhaka.
shazzad@manusher.org