Wash, rinse, repeat

Following the death of university student Abrar Ahmed Chowdhury who was run over and killed by a bus on March 19, the capital city and some other parts of the country have been rocked by student demonstrations. Apart from the fact that students have had to resort to taking to the streets yet again to demand a basic right—safe roads—the developments following the demos give us a hopeless sense of déjà vu. We have heard it all before—that drivers would not be allowed to drive without licences and that buses would not run on daily contracts.

Now, after yet another young life has been cut short, assurances being made by the authorities and transport owners and workers can hardly be taken seriously. This tendency to recycle old promises and indulge in ad-hocism—although a good PR strategy—has never worked and will not work this time either. How can the people be expected to trust words of reassurance of transport owners and workers when they openly enjoy political backing?

The facts speak for themselves. The number of deaths in road accidents in the country surpassed 7,000 last year. Violation of traffic rules and regulations is rampant. Drivers do not have proper licences—even drivers of some police vehicles had failed to produce licences in the past. Traffic police openly take bribes from errant drivers. Buses routinely stop in the middle of the road to pick up and drop passengers. The Road Transport Act is not yet in effect.

So the DMP chief's statement that discipline will be brought on the roads at "any cost" is hardly reassuring because we still don't know what the exact strategy is to address this monumental problem. The collective failure of concerned institutions and a lack of political will are largely to blame for the state of our transport sector, and road safety in this country. Can we for once tackle the root causes?

Words of assurance will continue to ring hollow until we see sustained efforts to rein in a profit-hungry sector and enforce existing traffic rules and regulations. It's time the adults paid heed to the children.