Reckless driving kills two in city
The incident of a Gazipur-bound bus hitting two teenage girls near the Abul Hotel in Malibagh Rail crossing area on January 1 turned the entire area into a warzone for four hours. Eyewitness accounts tell us that the two girls, Poly, aged 19, who worked at a readymade garment factory and Meem who was only 13 years old, were hit by a running bus. Within an hour hundreds of garments worked had descended on to the streets where they blockaded the Malibagh-Rampura road and ran pitched battles with the police leaving a dozen people injured and vandalised about 40 vehicles.
While we fully sympathise with the families of the bereaved, the latest incident of reckless driving and its aftermath is predictable for many reasons. For years, people have borne the brunt of the complete absurdity that exists on our roads where bus operators have been free to act as they please, ranging from flouting traffic rules to racing with one another in the unhealthy competition for picking up maximum number of passengers. Then there is the hiring of unskilled drivers and operating unfit vehicles.
It is tragic that after the country had witnessed a major movement for safer roads last July that had taken the lives of two students on airport road, we are still dealing with bus drivers who operate with an air of impunity when it comes to driving on city roads. While we are informed by Hatirjheel police that a case has been filed against the driver of the bus for reckless driving, these incidents will keep happening unless the bus operators are held accountable for putting unskilled drivers at the steering wheels of unfit vehicles on our roads.
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