The ultimate truth of human life is death. However, when we witness untimely deaths again and again, it is heartbreaking not only for our people, but for the entire nation. And when students have to lose their lives due to road accidents in Bangladesh -- it is not only a disappointment for the country, but also a tragedy for everyone.
Last year more than 600 students were killed in road accidents. By the first 10 months of 2021, 649 people had lost their lives in road accidents and 55 in November alone. And in December, the list of such accounts increased to 66. In the same year, the highest number of students lost their lives in the month of May, which stood at 84. In the entirety of 2020, the number of students killed in road accidents was 606. But In 2021, it had risen to 800, all the while the pandemic was taking countless lives as well.
Bangladesh entered the new year with the dream of ending deaths caused by road accidents. But even just after the first six days of the year, Bangladesh once again was faced with the death of a student in a road accident.
On January 8, Abu Bakar, a madrasa student in Chittagong, was killed in a road accident. Exactly 10 days later, on January 16, a student of grade 10, Humayun, died on his way to the health complex for his Covid-19 vaccination. And then, on February 1, Mahmud Habib Himel, a student of Rajshahi University, died after being hit by a truck.
On Tuesday evening, February 2, two students were killed when a trolley overturned on their way back from a picnic at Ghajini Holiday Center in Sherpur. Another 13 people were injured in this accident, all students. These are all accounts taken from the media or newspapers, but beyond that, we still don’t know how many have lost their lives in accidents like these.
The death of a student not only shatters the dreams of their family, but also the hopes and aspirations of any given society. The death of a student is not just the end of a life, but a major blow to the future of an entire family, and certainly the future of a nation. Many families lose their only means of survival when their children are taken away from them this way. This becomes all the more tragic when you realize just how much a family often has to sacrifice in order to facilitate education for their children.
Excessive speeding on the roads is one of the leading causes of road accidents. Narrow roads are yet another. And with that comes the lack of a proper traffic system and the disobedience of the law itself. Reckless driving, incompetent drivers, and vehicles with mechanical defects are also some of the serious causes for road accidents.
Saidur Rahman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation, said in a survey: “There are several reasons for the high rate of road accidents among students. One of them is lack of road safety in Bangladesh and mismanagement of the transport system, as well as lack of awareness among students, which is also responsible for the high number of road accidents taking place in Bangladesh.”
The first thing to prevent road accidents is to be aware about one’s own safety. The public needs to be encouraged to use foot over bridges. The administration needs to strengthen the system of determining skilled drivers and their proper training. In case of getting a driving license, corruption should be eliminated and the driver’s skills and qualifications need to be checked and vetted before issuing a license.
Driving vehicles with mechanical defects should be dealt with harsher punitive measures. Our roads need to be reformed and traffic laws need to be more strictly enforced.
The public must use sidewalks and zebra crossings. According to a survey, 91% of drivers do not pay attention to people at the zebra crossings, while 75% of people break traffic rules and cross the road. Moreover, according to a survey, 64% of rickshaw pullers in Dhaka city are ignorant of traffic laws and regulations. As a result, accidents happen every day.
Smita Jannat is a student of Jagannath University.