The speakers at a program have said that the owners of vehicles and drivers are equal perpetrators of road accidents.
They also said more initiatives to educate drivers are necessary, to ensure that road laws are not systematically violated.
The comments were made at an awareness raising event titled “Driver Awareness and Education Program, Season One,” held at the Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) auditorium on Friday. The program was organized by the Citizens’ Open Forum and Swift Solution.
IEB Assistant General Secretary Kazi Khairul Bashar said owners were as much to blame as drivers for accidents, as their “sick, profit seeking mentality” led them to overwork their employees.
He added that there was also a problem in the mentality of drivers, as “the same drivers who properly maintain the code of conduct when they drive in cantonment become intolerable on regular roads.”
Meanwhile, special guest and Rotary District 3281 Governor AFM Aalamgir said pedestrians were not entirely blameless in accidents either, and both drivers and pedestrians needed to be educated in road etiquette.
“Accidents always occur because of the misconduct of two parties. If one party is careful, then they cannot occur,” he said
Prominent actor Ilias Kanchan, also the founder and chairman of social movement “Nirapad Sarak Chai,” said the lack of proper government initiatives, education, and training were the main reasons for the rising number of accidents in recent times.
“The government should take proper initiatives to educate our drivers. If they become educated, then they will able to read and follow the instructions given by government. Lack of knowledge about road laws makes both drivers and pedestrians unbearable,” he added.
IEB Honorary General Secretary Khandakar Manjurul Morshed said law enforcement also had to shoulder some of the blame for road accidents. “Our drivers follow traffic rules and regulations properly when they drive abroad. We cannot blame just them; a lack of law enforcement also needs to be addressed.”
A number of drivers of both regular and heavy vehicles attended the awareness raising program. A training program for drivers was also arranged at the event.
Kazi Shifun Newaz, assistant professor of the Accident Research Institute at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, and Kamruzzaman Palash, CEO of Swift Solution, conducted the training program.
BRAC University Prof Mahbubur Rahman, COF founder and President Ziaur Rahman, Bir Pratik Major General Harun or Rashid, Bangladesh Television former director general M Hamidur Rahman, and Dhaka North Rotary Club President Syed Imtiaz Ahemed were present at the program, among others.
