Roads and highways or death traps

The other day, an Additional Secretary to the government was killed as a passenger bus knocked him down in Dhanmondi in the capital. Despite repeated media reports, there is no respite from road accident. The Acting Secretary of the Women and Children Affairs Ministry and the Chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), were killed in a road accident last year. The heart-rending matter is that the Chairman of BSCIC also lost two of his daughters in a similar accident on Dhaka-Chittagong highway. In another incident, 10 policemen were killed last month when the van, carrying them, collided with a truck. That reveals how unsafe our highways are. The link between roads and human development is well-established. But the road safety situation in Bangladesh has been deteriorating with an increasing number of casualties caused by road accidents. This is largely due to rapid growth of population, motorization, urbanization and lack of investment in road safety. With more than 5,000 deaths occurring due to road accidents annually, Bangladesh has a bad reputation of having the highest road casualty among its neighbours. A pervasive sense of pessimism prevails among the people as they find no serious effort to improve the appalling situation. With more lives getting lost under the wheels of recklessly driven vehicles, the administration's carelessness or helplessness becomes very clearly evident. Those who are in charge of road safety may fail to appreciate this, but the political leadership should tell them in categorical terms that this has to be stopped. The primary flaw in the limited road safety activities is the absence of accountability in the country. In most cases, bus- and truck-drivers manage to escape, despite causing the loss of lives. Though the present government announced punishment for reckless driving, little progress has taken place in its implementation. Over the years, the road transportation system has been given greater importance compared to that of rail communication. While the number of road transports has been increased, much effort is still needed to provide safe roads, clean footpaths and adequate road crossing facilities. This imbalance is often demonstrated just after a fatal accident when people protest by taking to the streets. The causes behind the increasing number of road accidents are well known, but no one takes any effective remedial action. Traffic education in this regard can play an important role. However, the role of the authorities in reducing casualties is crucial. Despite the need to improve road safety, the issue is not being given the priority that it deserves, by the government. When some lives are lost, the government announces some new actions but the same are not followed up properly, leading to the return of the status quo ante. All authorities, whether or not they have a legal responsibility for road safety, do need to be ever pro-active for reducing the number of road accidents. Day by day, our roads and highways are becoming death traps. The existing measures for road safety are inadequate, and the government should strive for reducing the number of casualties. Addressing road safety management in a comprehensive manner requires actions at many levels and the involvement of many sectors. Roads have to be designed with the safety- issue given a proper priority, rather than being considered as an afterthought. And the government and civil society organizations have to work together to change the attitudes that endanger lives. There are no obvious solutions - but there are tried and tested approaches. And now is the time for taking the next steps. The writer, an engineer, can be reached at e-mai: shafiq@iidfc.com