Road kill continues

It seems a measure of how badly things have gone out of hand when it comes to road safety that 14 people were killed and 61 injured in road crashes in four districts on Thursday and Friday alone. And the manner in which the crashes reportedly took place blazons the utter chaos that continues to define our road transport system. In Comilla, a bus plunged into a ditch when the driver "lost control" over the vehicle. But how exactly did it happen? Was the bus fit to drive? Did the driver have a valid driver's licence? Was he trying to save a careless pedestrian? And the crash in Savar involved a collision between a truck and a battery-run-rickshaw on the Dhaka-Aricha highway.  But wait; aren't battery-operated rickshaws banned in the first place? One gets the idea.

The number of deaths from road crashes is unprecedented and unacceptable. And what about the injured? Most of them are poor and when they suffer severe injuries, they lose their livelihoods exposing their families to financial tribulations. Is the built-in environment anywhere close to being capable of supporting them to lead their lives as dignified and productive members of society? 

Road "accidents" in Bangladesh has become a serious problem and business as usual no longer passes muster. It is complex and multilayered and hardly requires description. The reality is that it is no longer just a traffic management issue. Political parties should treat it as a national crisis and include it in their agenda to reduce the number of road crashes.