Road safety seems like a foreign concept in Bangladesh as the number of deaths and injuries caused by road accidents seemingly break records year after year. While much of it can be ascribed to a lack of enforcement when it comes to traffic laws, it is indubitable that at the heart of this issue lies the many bus and other transport companies that are doing their utmost to prevent any semblance of safety being introduced on our roads and highways.
It’s no big secret that transport associations hold an inordinate amount of sway on government policy regarding road infrastructure, as they are often strong-arming the administration to roll back decisions when it comes to matters of road safety by rallying their workers -- who themselves are denied the right to be formalized in their sector -- into open agitation and destructive strikes that achieve nothing but maintain the status quo for transport owners.
Needless to say, this cannot go on forever.
The government needs to start acting tougher on transport associations and a good start, to that end, would be to cut off the influence that they have on government policy. Too many of these associations are led by ruling party men, and instead of kowtowing to their demands the administration should in turn bring these unruly party men to heel.
The lack of safety on our roads has been an issue for our country almost as long as we have been independent, but the issue came to the fore more than five years ago when the historic student-led movement demanding road safety showed us all that introducing order on our roads can be more than just a pipe dream.
Thursday, June 04, 2026
