Tragedies from road accidents
Friday, 24 August 2007
Syed Ishtiaque Reza
KILLING of eight people including five students on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway last week once again revealed that the roads and highways are not safe in the country. There are deaths on the highways in many parts of the country. The accidents occurred as buses ran races and then fell into the waters of the ditches or collided head on with others.
The high rate of fatal accidents in Bangladesh is a cause for alarm and unacceptable. It is understood that the road networks here are in poor conditions and poorly maintained. The roads of Dhaka are formed congested, with hundreds of thousands of bicycle rickshaws competing with baby taxis, auto tempos, cars, overloaded buses, and trucks on limited road space. Inter-city roads are narrow. Driving at night is especially dangerous. Streetlights are rare even in cities.
A survey conducted by the Accident Research Centre of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 2004 showed some 4,000 people die each year in road accidents and 52,000 get seriously injured.
The survey reveals that the financial loss caused by road accidents amounts Tk 4.0 billion, which is about two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) as a handsome amount of money is spent on the disabled caused by road accidents. Besides, when one dies his contribution to national revenue also comes to an end.
The causes of road accidents in Bangladesh as mentioned in a World Bank report (2004) include poor traffic management, incompetence of the drivers, faulty vehicles, shabby roads, falling unconscious while driving and becoming drivers from helpers before learning the job properly.
With a view to preventing accidents, highway police posts have been set up in 72 important points of the country. Besides, five trauma centres have been set up at five important points of the national highway network for providing quick treatment to the injured.
In most cases, according to a World Bank report, drivers are responsible for road accidents as incompetent drivers and their helpers are allowed to drive vehicles.
Experts say pedestrians' disregard for traffic rules is a big problem, while pedestrians say they are forced to walk along the streets, as there is no room to walk on footpaths in many areas of the city. Besides, the number of footbridges is too inadequate. Even there is no footbridge in many vulnerable places like Motijheel, Shahbagh and Bangla Motor intersections.
Road accidents are taking increasing toll of human lives. Not only has safety not been enhanced but it seems journey by road is becoming more hazardous. The high toll cannot be explained away as just accident or a consequence of fog. Something must be deeply wrong with the entire traffic management. It is futile to blame fog. No vehicle is expected to ply in the first place, when visibility is poor. So when an accident is attributed to fog, it should be read as driver's irresponsibility, impatience and recklessness. The laxity at all levels is pathetically manifested in times like these when movement of people and vehicles increases.
Every year about four thousand people die in road accidents and 10 thousand are injured, resulting in permanent disability for many. It is possible to cite higher accident rates in other countries but proportionate to the number of vehicles, this country's rate of accident is one of the highest in the world.
It is believed that weak laws and lack of vigilance by the government agencies are causing several thousand accidents claiming nearly four thousand lives every year and injuring more than ten thousand.
Transport owners admit that many inexperienced drivers are on the road. They have been demanding training for drivers by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Bangladesh Accident Research Centre said there are three factors behind all accidents -- inexperienced drivers, rundown roads and unfit vehicles
Bangladesh has a very high road accident fatality rate with official figures indicating more than 60 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles. Official statistics say that everyday around eight persons die in road accidents. The actual rate of fatality may be much even higher.
What is particularly striking is that despite the unacceptable frequency of road accidents, no deterrent action is in sight and vehicle owners, drivers, the police and BRTA all get away. And transport owners whose indifference towards safety of passengers seem conspicuous is kept out of the entire legal procedure. They do not even have to pay compensation or insurance premium as there is no mandatory passenger insurance. And the authorities who issue driving license and fitness certificate are never called to account. Thus nothing is learnt from experience and nothing changes and people continue to die. According to statistics cited by a Bengali daily, not even in one per cent cases is the driver awarded punishment. The reasons for the accidents are not far to seek. Defective vehicles and corruption in issuing fitness certificate, reckless driving, corruption in traffic department and licensing procedure. Add to these the fact that cases of accidents are not seriously probed or violators punished.
And there is no system of payment of compensation. Penalty for reckless driving resulting in death had been made tougher but under pressure of transport owners and drivers the provision was rescinded. But toughness of penalty is immaterial when everyone gets away scot-free and there is no law enforcement.
KILLING of eight people including five students on the Dhaka-Chittagong highway last week once again revealed that the roads and highways are not safe in the country. There are deaths on the highways in many parts of the country. The accidents occurred as buses ran races and then fell into the waters of the ditches or collided head on with others.
The high rate of fatal accidents in Bangladesh is a cause for alarm and unacceptable. It is understood that the road networks here are in poor conditions and poorly maintained. The roads of Dhaka are formed congested, with hundreds of thousands of bicycle rickshaws competing with baby taxis, auto tempos, cars, overloaded buses, and trucks on limited road space. Inter-city roads are narrow. Driving at night is especially dangerous. Streetlights are rare even in cities.
A survey conducted by the Accident Research Centre of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 2004 showed some 4,000 people die each year in road accidents and 52,000 get seriously injured.
The survey reveals that the financial loss caused by road accidents amounts Tk 4.0 billion, which is about two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) as a handsome amount of money is spent on the disabled caused by road accidents. Besides, when one dies his contribution to national revenue also comes to an end.
The causes of road accidents in Bangladesh as mentioned in a World Bank report (2004) include poor traffic management, incompetence of the drivers, faulty vehicles, shabby roads, falling unconscious while driving and becoming drivers from helpers before learning the job properly.
With a view to preventing accidents, highway police posts have been set up in 72 important points of the country. Besides, five trauma centres have been set up at five important points of the national highway network for providing quick treatment to the injured.
In most cases, according to a World Bank report, drivers are responsible for road accidents as incompetent drivers and their helpers are allowed to drive vehicles.
Experts say pedestrians' disregard for traffic rules is a big problem, while pedestrians say they are forced to walk along the streets, as there is no room to walk on footpaths in many areas of the city. Besides, the number of footbridges is too inadequate. Even there is no footbridge in many vulnerable places like Motijheel, Shahbagh and Bangla Motor intersections.
Road accidents are taking increasing toll of human lives. Not only has safety not been enhanced but it seems journey by road is becoming more hazardous. The high toll cannot be explained away as just accident or a consequence of fog. Something must be deeply wrong with the entire traffic management. It is futile to blame fog. No vehicle is expected to ply in the first place, when visibility is poor. So when an accident is attributed to fog, it should be read as driver's irresponsibility, impatience and recklessness. The laxity at all levels is pathetically manifested in times like these when movement of people and vehicles increases.
Every year about four thousand people die in road accidents and 10 thousand are injured, resulting in permanent disability for many. It is possible to cite higher accident rates in other countries but proportionate to the number of vehicles, this country's rate of accident is one of the highest in the world.
It is believed that weak laws and lack of vigilance by the government agencies are causing several thousand accidents claiming nearly four thousand lives every year and injuring more than ten thousand.
Transport owners admit that many inexperienced drivers are on the road. They have been demanding training for drivers by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Bangladesh Accident Research Centre said there are three factors behind all accidents -- inexperienced drivers, rundown roads and unfit vehicles
Bangladesh has a very high road accident fatality rate with official figures indicating more than 60 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles. Official statistics say that everyday around eight persons die in road accidents. The actual rate of fatality may be much even higher.
What is particularly striking is that despite the unacceptable frequency of road accidents, no deterrent action is in sight and vehicle owners, drivers, the police and BRTA all get away. And transport owners whose indifference towards safety of passengers seem conspicuous is kept out of the entire legal procedure. They do not even have to pay compensation or insurance premium as there is no mandatory passenger insurance. And the authorities who issue driving license and fitness certificate are never called to account. Thus nothing is learnt from experience and nothing changes and people continue to die. According to statistics cited by a Bengali daily, not even in one per cent cases is the driver awarded punishment. The reasons for the accidents are not far to seek. Defective vehicles and corruption in issuing fitness certificate, reckless driving, corruption in traffic department and licensing procedure. Add to these the fact that cases of accidents are not seriously probed or violators punished.
And there is no system of payment of compensation. Penalty for reckless driving resulting in death had been made tougher but under pressure of transport owners and drivers the provision was rescinded. But toughness of penalty is immaterial when everyone gets away scot-free and there is no law enforcement.