Maisha the latest road victim: When will the authorities wake up?
A road accident claimed the life of Maisha Momotaj, a student who took part in a movement with her classmates demanding safer roads after two college students were killed in a road accident at airport area in 2018. She was on her way to North South University in Bashundhara residential area on her scooter from Uttara last Friday morning. A covered van hit her on the Khilkhet flyover leaving her critically injured. When she was taken to the hospital, the physicians declared her dead.
Maisha was a sixth-semester student in the English department at North South University. Of the seven people killed in road accidents across the country on Friday, four were students. Earlier on Thursday, a 13-year-old student was killed by a truck in Faridpur. According to the Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association, in the seven years from 2014 to 2021, more than 11 per cent of the victims who died in road accidents were students. In this span of time an average of 800 students died every year.
Analysing the recent accidents, it is learned that the student death rate has increased further. Last January and February, 1,012 people died on the road. Of these, 130 are children, most of whom are students. During the Covid pandemic, the educational institutions were closed for more than a year and a half.
After that, even though the educational institutions opened, classes were held one or two days a week. The educational institutions have been fully opened since March. All students are attending classes regularly. As a result, the number of students going out of the house has also increased.
Who is responsible for deaths in one accident after another? What are the organisations and responsible people doing? As per the government, a large part of the vehicles on the road do not have licences. Why don’t they have licences? The owners and drivers of the vehicles complained that they were not getting licence from BRTA even after months of harassment.
For this reason, they are being forced to drive vehicles without a licence or with an expired licence. Again, many are driving heavy vehicles with licences issued for light vehicles. The driver of the covered van that hit Maisha Momotaj on the Khilkhet flyover did not have a driver's licence for heavy vehicles, but a light vehicle driving license. The driver of the truck that crushed 13-year-old Sheikh Naeem in Faridpur had the same licence.
There is no management on the roads that is used by millions of people every day. It is just anarchy and chaos everywhere. The Minister of Roads and Bridges brags on various issues every day, but he is never heard talking about roads. The BRTA is not able to issue driver’s licences as per the demand. So what is the justification behind spending public money on this organisation?
People can't stay at home because of mismanagement on the road. Students cannot stay away from their educational institutions. There is no alternative to implementing the road transport law enacted in 2018 to restore order on the roads. Let every accident be investigated, let those responsible be punished. The systematic carnage that has been going on in the name of accidents for many years must be stopped.