Student deaths on road: When will the govt pay heed
Students staged a mass movement in demand of safe roads in 2018 and made the government pass an appropriate road transport law. But in the last four years, the law has not been implemented due to the opposition of the transport owners and workers. Consequently, deaths in road accidents continue unabated.
How do we explain the death of five students on the road Saturday? Are they victims of a mere accident, or were killed due to the negligence and irresponsibility of the concerned persons including the authorities? Prothom Alo published a report on Sunday about the death of a brilliant student Jahangir Alam. He died after a battery-operated autorickshaw overturned on the Sherpur-Nalitabari road in Nalitabari Gollarpar area.
Jahangir used to work on other people's land to arrange the expense of his education while in the school. Later, with the help of Prothom Alo Trust, he obtained a master's degree in law from Jahangirnagar University and was preparing for the BCS examination. He used to provide tuition to run his family. Jahangir's death threw the family into a dire situation.
Of the five students killed in different road accidents on Saturday, four were motorcycle riders. Among them, Redwan, who was killed on the Pabna-Ishwardy road, was a final year BBA student in a university in Dhaka. Nobody knows how many Jahangirs and Redwans lost their lives due to unsafe roads. As many as 46 students died in road accidents in January this year. A total of 885 students died in road crashes last year. This number is 16 per cent of the total deaths on roads.
The question naturally arises, has the government broken its promise to the students? How justified is it to leave the law on paper only, without implementing it? Do the owners and workers who are united to prevent the Road Transport Act from being implemented, ever looked at the list of people killed in road accidents? According to the data of Jatri Kalyan Samiti, the highest number deaths occurred on roads are of drivers, almost 153, in January, while the number of injured drivers was 206 during the same period.
Despite this, if the transport owners and workers’ unions do not come to their senses, it transpires that they are trying to push not only the commuters, but also the drivers to death. On the other hand, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is not doing anything to prevent accidents. In order to prevent motorcycle accidents, BRTA has prepared the draft motorcycle traffic control policy, which stipulates that motorcycles cannot be taken on the road without a permit and a driving licence. Although this is a good move, there are doubts about its implementation. Such policies can be made applicable for other vehicles as well.
The directive not to sell motorcycles to anyone without a license is also positive. But the requirement of motorcycle dealers to train motorcyclists is absolutely ridiculous. By this, BRTA seeks to delegate its responsibility to others, which is unrealistic and unwarranted.
How many more death on the road will make BRTA and the government to come into their senses? Death of students in accidents like this is not acceptable in any way.