Not a requiem but a will to remedy needed
TWO months have gone by since Zaglul Ahmed Choudhury passed away in a tragic road accident at a very busy intersection in the heart of the city. More important, the spot where the accident happened was within ten meters of a police box. There were policemen directing traffic. According to various news reports, Zaglul fell from a bus that did not stop completely before allowing an elderly passenger to get down.
As expected, the government promptly set up an enquiry committee headed by a member of the BRTA and declared that a report would be submitted within a week. It even announced a reward for information on the errant driver of the coaster and very quickly sealed the hospital where dying Zaglul was first taken for treatment by a compassionate young man from Gaibandha. We do not know if the enquiry report was ever submitted.
Officially, mourning for Zaglul is now over. There was the initial demonstration of public outrage at another tragic death on our bleeding roads. Seminars and condolence meetings eulogised Zaglul Ahmed Choudhury's accomplishments as a highly gifted journalist. He was probably the only media personality in the country who used to write and talk regularly on international affairs, focusing on Indo-Bangladesh relationships. He was known for his great human qualities, kind and compassionate, who would befriend not only his professional colleagues, but also young and old, rich and poor alike. He would rush to help a close kin or a distant relative. His helping hand would be extended to even a totally unknown person who was in distress. Dhaka Club has lost one of its most ardent devotees, an indomitable socialite, who could jell easily, seamlessly, with any crowd. He was my brother-in-law, and I had always found him by my side at my hour of need. He was a true nationalist, a patriot who loved this country, its music and its cultural heritage.
Zaglul is gone now. He has left behind a vacuum, an emptiness amongst his family, his circle of friends and professional colleagues, which can never be filled. He will now remain on records as another victim of ever increasing road accidents, another piece of statistics, to be commemorated, no doubt, every year on the occasion of his death anniversary.
According to a study done by the Accident Research Centre (ARC) of Buet in 2011, on the average 12,000 precious lives are lost annually in such accidents. The number of fatal accidents keeps on rising. In addition, about 35,000 are injured, many of whom would die later or, worse still, become crippled and languish for rest of their lives in utter misery, losing all means of livelihood and health care support. ARC, under the leadership of Professor Shamsul Hoque and his team at Buet, has already done a lot of research to determine the specific causes of these accidents and has suggested the corrective actions that need to be taken to reduce such tragedies. Numerous enquiry committees have also clearly established what causes such accidents. We know what measures must be taken to bring about the required systemic changes. Yet we have failed miserably to take any meaningful remedial action.
This is one problem which is amenable to solution. What is required is a firm political commitment from the government to implement the reform measures. Our flickering hopes rose when, last December, the communications minister publicly declared his determination to check all public transports for their fitness. It did not happen. According to the minister's own admissions, he had to yield to pressures from powerful quarters and the drive was abandoned even before it had started.
The first move has to start with BRTA, which has said that a vast majority of drivers do not have valid driving license. Nor do they receive any special training as bus drivers or operators of heavy vehicles. It was our misfortune that the bus that killed Zaglul did not stop when he was getting down from it. It is our misfortune that bus drivers have not been trained to stop when passengers get down. It is our misfortune that there is no bus stop at Sonargaon intersection, where thousands of people get on or off buses every day. It is our misfortune that buses race against one anther to pick up additional passengers, changing lanes recklessly to overtake other vehicles. They have not been instructed not to change lanes while driving along busy thoroughfares. It is our misfortune that sophisticated traffic lights installed at huge cost are not followed by the traffic policemen. It is our misfortune that zebra crossings are not respected by vehicular traffic, just as it is our misfortune that vehicles of VIP's use the opposite lane to avoid traffic jams. Traffic police will make a show of launching a big campaign once in a while, but before long the situation goes back to where it was ab initio.
We must realise that fatalities and injuries on our roads are not random, unavoidable accidents, willed by the Almighty. They are definitely predictable, largely avoidable and amenable to rational solution. Ilias Kanchan and others have waged a laudable movement against errant drivers, demanding severe punishment for reckless operators. Enforcement of traffic discipline, reforms of licensing and rigorous training, along with retraining for drivers of heavy vehicles, are all doable things. It is no doubt necessary, but definitely not sufficient, to go after individual errant drivers and sentence them to death after an accident has happened. The drivers are indeed responsible for culpable homicide under the law, but we should stress that they are inevitable products of a system that has failed. Capital punishment alone does not provide any remedy to systemic faults. It is the system that needs to be urgently reformed. Our nation owes it to Zaglul Choudhury, Tareq Masud, Mishuk Munir and thousands of other who had lost their precious lives on our bleeding roads. We must mobilise all our resources to remedy a seriously malfunctioning traffic regulatory system.
The writer is a former civil servant.
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