All over the country, including the capital Dhaka, in the middle of the road, buses stop and pick up and drop off passengers. Everywhere, one bus has a tendency to overtake another bus and go first. On the other hand, pedestrians are seen crossing the road at risk on busy roads at many places. On one hand pedestrians cross the road dangerously, on the other hand drivers do not obey traffic laws. As a result, due to the carelessness of both sides, accidents are constantly happening on the road. In this way, the number of injured people is increasing manifold.
Road accidents are becoming one of the leading causes of human casualties worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, about 1 million 35 thousand people die in road accidents in the world every year. Road accidents are the eighth leading cause of accidental death for people of all ages. According to a report by the organization, 90 percent of road accidents worldwide occur in low- and middle-income countries; The number of which is three times more than that of developed countries.
An average of five to six thousand people die in road accidents in Bangladesh every year. According to the Road Safety Foundation, a total of 5,381 road accidents occurred in the country in 2021. At least 6,264 people were killed. Six thousand 46 people were injured.
Road safety is important for everyone. The issue of road safety in the country has been a hot topic for a long time. The country-shaking safe road movement of teenagers, which was formed in response to the death of two students on Airport Road in 2018, is still vivid in everyone’s memory. But due to the government’s failure to enact new laws and implement them properly, there is no discipline in the movement of vehicles on roads and highways across the country. If there were, more people would not die on the road than before.
According to the statistics of the government organization Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), accidents have increased by 43.95 percent and deaths by 30 percent during the same period this year compared to the first three months of last year.
Last Monday, Road Safety Foundation sent to the media in the ‘Report on Road Accidents Occurred During Eidul Azha Celebrations’ mentioned that 262 people died in 251 road accidents during the 13 days of Eidul Azha. At least 543 people were injured. 998 crore 55 lakh 37 thousand human resources were lost in 13 days in the accident.
According to the Road Safety Foundation, the main causes of road accidents are faulty vehicles, reckless speeding, incompetence and physical and mental illness of drivers, irregular working hours, slow speeding of vehicles on highways, reckless riding of motorcycles by young people, lack of knowledge and disobedience of traffic laws among the public. trends, poor traffic management, lack of capacity of BRTA and extortion in public transport.
During the two Eids every year in the country, the traffic on the roads increases many times more than other times. At this time there is no such thing as road management. The result is a high rate of accidents. In order to bring road accidents under control, first of all it is necessary to develop sustainable road management. Then it is expected that order will return on the road.