Deaths on the road

Going by the figures appearing in a Daily Star report, deaths in road accidents are perhaps one of the largest cause of fatality in the country, if not the largest. And most of these deaths could well have been prevented, had all concerned played their part honestly.

What boggles one's mind also is the acknowledgement by the authorities of the lacunae and yet the absence of tangible and worthwhile measures to address the same by them.

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We are dismayed to note the utter helplessness of none other than the minister for transport himself in stymieing the cause of these avoidable deaths and injuries. The shameful admission by the BRTA of 90 percent licences being fake only demonstrates the collusive role of the authorities and the drivers. If there are self-styled gangs issuing fake licences, it will not be wrong to say that they have political links as well as have truck with the law enforcing agencies, since they are plying their illegal trade with impunity. What keeps the authorities from hauling them up?

If many of the vehicles plying on the roads and the highways are unfit it is so because of connivance of some of the unscrupulous officials of the BRTA with the vehicle owners.

What ails the system is diagnosed spot-on by the minister himself: "when the police stop a vehicle on the road, we all know it is not for implementing the laws but to do other things." The question is, what is he going to do about it?

The bottomline is that most of the deaths and injuries that occur on our roads can be prevented if each element in the regulatory cycle plays its part honestly.