Do the authorities care?

Is the administration concerned about road accidents? It would seem not. Road accidents, unfortunately, have become quite a norm in Bangladesh given that hardly a day passes without some grim stories and pictures in the media of road accidents and the death and destruction that they wreak. The last day of February witnessed road crashes in four districts resulting in the death of 16 people, including seven from a family in one road crash alone. Of the dead, five were SSC examinees.

Only those who use the roads to travel, particularly outside of the capital, would know how terrifying an experience it is. The already unsafe roads are made even more unsafe by drivers with wanton abandon, served by a sense of impunity, dilapidated, unfit and unauthorised vehicles/contraptions, and absence of regular and strict monitoring by the police. It is a pity that despite the cavalcade of accidents and deaths, we do not find any noticeable action by the administration to ameliorate the situation. On the contrary, the situation is getting worse every day.

The statistics is very disturbing. Death toll in road accidents in 2019 exceeded the previous year's by nearly 18 percent, with more deaths and injuries as a consequence. We have fared even worse so far in 2020, considering the statistics we have of January this year. Reportedly, in January alone, at least 445 people were killed and 834 others injured in 340 road accidents across the country.

It appears the suggestions of the experts from time to time have fallen on deaf ears. It's a pity that the reactions of the authorities are episodic. Only when there is a public uproar, as we saw initiated by the students in 2018, do we see the police, the BRTA and other related agencies sit up. But eventually, it peters out primarily due to lack of commitment. The new road transport act became effective more than a year after it was passed but that, too, after some of the provisions were diluted to meet the demands of the owners and workers. Even that is not being implemented effectively, however. Nothing short of action on a war footing can reduce the procession of deaths on the roads.