Deaths on the highway

This column has on many occasions highlighted the grossly chaotic situation prevailing on the highways. There are a large number of casualties occurring everyday on the inter-district roads as a result of traffic accidents. The number of deaths in these accidents is incredibly high and totally unacceptable.
And in this regard nothing can dramatise more the unorganised, shoddily managed and poorly supervised movement of traffic on the highways than the tragedy that befell the family of the chairman of the BSCIC. In a bizarre twist of fate he was killed in a very tragic accident along with another secretary of the government when their car collided with a recklessly driven bus near Manikganj, only four months after two of his daughters were killed in a road accident. And Mr. Rahman was an avid advocate for safe roads and highways.
The two deaths, as like all others before, reflect the true scale of the problem of road safety a problem that everyone is fully aware of but apparently unable to move fast enough to stem the slide. The situation has come to such a pass that no further delay in initiating appropriate corrective measures can be countenanced. We should be aware of the fact that there is rise in the volume of highway traffic by the day adding to the already explosive situation.
These veritable death traps, which the highways have become, have very distinct features, which must be addressed specifically.
First, it is the road configuration and the attendant shortcomings, like sharp bends that are almost like blind corners, narrow roads without dividers, highways being impinged by roadside bazaars, and poor state of repair, which add to the accident potential of the highways. Secondly, many of the vehicles that ply the highways are not roadworthy, and last but not the least, the drivers mostly are unskilled and untrained, having obtained their license through underhand means.
To add to these is the poor legal framework under which the accident cases are handled. The penalty, (when the defaulter is apprehended, if at all) for causing accidents and deaths is weak. The driver in most cases manages to escape and the matter eventually falls through turning it into a fiasco eventually. And this lends a feeling of impunity in the drivers.
Regrettably, the benign neglect of the government, and particularly of the R&H Department, have caused things to go from bad to worse in an ever irreversible manner. In this regard we would like to suggest that a high-level committee be formed which should review the situation in the light of the above in the entirety, and suggest measures that should be implemented on an emergency basis.