Who is minding our highways?
ON Sunday, a physician and an engineer died in a road crash along with one or two more passengers. The tragic incident occurred on the Faridpur-Bhanga road when a young girl suddenly bolted before the cruising car on her way to the other side. Even at normal speed on a highway it would be impossible for any driver to save either the person in the middle of the road or the car from meeting with a fatal accident under such circumstances. Who will take the responsibility of these deaths?
The inevitable has happened in this case leading to the deaths of some valuable lives. And this reminds me of the tragic end of former minister Saifur Rahman in a road crash in an almost similar fashion. His car driver had tried his best to stop the car when a cow suddenly sprang before it. He swerved to one side at a high speed (which is normal in a highway) but failed to stop and eventually fell into a ditch.
Here is a personal account. The driver of the microbus that I had used to travel to some district towns a couple of months back often came close to running over men, women and children when they suddenly started to cross the highway. My constant monitoring of the two sides of the road ahead somehow paid off and we reached our destination safely every time. In one word, it was total madness noticed on the highways and roads that connect district towns of the country.
Careless humans, equally careless cows and goats; frolicking school-going children, nonchalant cycle and motor-cycle riders, dare-devil cycle-rickshaw pullers, adamant powertiller-turned-passenger hauler drivers (Nosimon, Korimon) and rogue truck drivers engage in a mad rush to go ahead of one another in the narrow highway. There is no authority to be seen anywhere out there to enforce law to ensure safety of commuters on those roads. As a result, whenever a car hits a rickshaw or a jaywalker a huge mob gathers around and starts to beat up the poor driver.
Let us have a look at the overall world and country situation as far as road accidents are concerned. A feature report published in The Star, Friday weekly magazine of The Daily Star, says: "Bangladesh has more than 100 deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles (WB/UNESCAP). Although the official figure for road deaths is three to four thousand a year, independent studies by international agencies such as the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) have suggested the actual death toll in Bangladesh could be three times as high. The number of people seriously injured in road crashes is estimated at more than 1,00,000 each year. In Dhaka city, pedestrians alone comprise almost 75 percent of road accident fatalities."
The same feature report says: "Even if we leave aside for a moment the casualty statistics, the economic burden in itself is staggering. Road traffic injuries place a strain on the country's economy through the direct impacts on health care and rehabilitation services as well as through the indirect costs. It is estimated that road crashes cost us roughly 2% of GDP every year. This is almost equal to the total foreign aid received by Bangladesh in a given fiscal year!"
We further learn from the report that, globally, 1.3 million people are killed in road accidents annually, 3,500 lives lost per day. As many as 50 million are injured and suffer disability every year and that road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death globally for those between 10 and 24 years of age.
The alarming rise in the number of deaths and injuries and veritable non-action of the governments of the individual countries, had prompted the UN to take a serious note of the situation and in response had dedicated one World Health Day (possibly 2004) to the people killed and maimed in road accidents. The slogan that year was: Road Safety Is No Accident. Very poignant indeed, emphasising the fact that you cannot take road safety casually, meaning, it does not happen clandestinely, rather you have to plan well and approach it with seriousness.
The UN Road Safety Collaboration experts works together with local experts, NGOs, research organisations, civil society members etc., as well as representatives from the transport and health sectors to address the major risk factors like road conditions, lightings of the roads, drunkenness when driving, use of seat-belt, eye condition of drivers, overtaking, over-speeding etc.
Here is a grim warning from WHO. It says that by 2020 road accident related injuries will be the third highest threat to public health, which will eventually outrank threats from diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhoeal diseases and HIV/AIDS. WHO also said that in South Asia alone, road traffic fatalities are likely to increase from 135,000 in 2000 to 330,000 in 2020 (World Report on Road Traffic Injury Prevention, WHO, 2004). That is 144% increase in deaths from road crashes.
The global experts are of the opinion that road accidents are both predictable and preventable. What is needed to combat this life-threatening malaise is improving road conditions (less sharp bends in highways and more lights), patrolling of highways in high-speed cars, creating greater public awareness (through school curriculum and mass media campaigns) and strict implementation of traffic laws (both in cities and highways) to instill discipline in both drivers and passersby.
In the Dhaka metropolitan area, unless and until pedestrians are totally prohibited from crossing the roads stopping speeding cars, accidents will continue to occur with no faults of the drivers. Traffic police department must issue strict orders addressing the jaywalkers on Dhaka roads with messages of legal action against violators of laws. They must be forced to use foot-bridges built for them. They must be told in clear terms that if they are ever hit by a car the police will arrest them and not the driver of the car.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments