Must commuters risk their lives every Eid?
It seems we have no escape from the recurring nightmare of road crash fatalities during Eid holidays. This Eid-ul-Azha, too, at least 92 lives were lost in road crashes across the country between June 13 and June 17, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
Reportedly, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader quoted the BRTA data and warned about the urgent need for policies to regulate motorcycles and easy bikes, which accounted for most of the recent crashes. While we are glad that the minister has expressed concern over this issue, the history of three-wheeler bans or the government's feeble attempt to prevent unfit and unlicensed vehicles from operating on the road and then backtracking on their decisions don't give us much hope that any such policy will be formulated or implemented soon.
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For more than a decade, road crashes during Eid rush have been on the rise. It is incomprehensible why no effective steps have been taken to prevent these tragic incidents in the last 10 years, especially when the same government has been in power during this time. The current regime has undoubtedly excelled at developing Bangladesh's roads and communication infrastructure, but it has failed to make those very channels safe for people to use. The reasons behind road crashes are not unknown, neither are the solutions. Even simple measures such as increasing traffic monitoring on the roads after Eid could prevent many deaths.
As the road crash fatality count goes up with each passing hour, the government should stop providing lip service to the issue and take some real actions, such as creating dedicated lanes for different types of vehicles, not allowing unfit and unlicensed vehicles on the road, increasing traffic monitoring, and giving exemplary punishment to reckless drivers. It must start treating the epidemic of road crashes with the seriousness it deserves.
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