He left his home for school early morning that day, and only five yards ahead of his school, the child was run over by a bus and left to die on the Dhaka-Khulna highway. The incident took place in Nagorkanda upazila of Faridpur district.
This was among the 204 deaths caused by road accidents reported in a daily newspaper. 204! The total number could be much higher than the reported number, as it is almost impossible to collect and publish all the news regarding the road accident on a daily basis.
These deaths are not linked with any of the political violence. The number was higher in December of last year, and it decreased in January due to the shortage of traffic amid the countrywide blockade program enforced by the opposition camp.
The Guardian, published from the UK in an article published on December 9, 2012 termed the Dhaka-Sylhet highway “the world’s deadliest road.” But the number of deaths in other highways indicates that almost every single highway of the country has turned into a two-lane slaughter alley. And this is no less than the fact.
According to a study conducted by the Accident Research Centre of BUET, road accidents claim on average 12,000 lives annually, and lead to about 35,000 injuries. Moreover, WHO believes that more than 20,000 people are killed on Bangladesh’s roads every year.
Amid a large number of fatalities every year on the highways, the government has shown little interest in implementing basic safety features on the roads of the country.
Apart from the bridges and link roads to those bridges, the sides of the roads have no crash barriers. There are no dividers in the middle of the road to prevent dangerous overtaking and stop the majority of the head-on collisions.
There is a lack of pedestrian footpaths, traffic lights, or speed controls. Foot over-bridges are like a blue moon on Bangladeshi highways, leaving no other option to the pedestrians but to cross the deadly roads at their own risk.
Some parts of society, especially the members of civil society and the media, apparently look over this alarming issue. They are even more interested to show and discuss the political violence and the burn victims instead of covering the deadly highways.
But, after the death of renowned filmmaker Tareque Masud and television personality Mishuk Munier in a deadly road accident, a good number of people and some members of civil society raised their voices to protest the deaths of this duo and asked the government to implement safety features on the highways. They organised a sit-in at the Central Shaheed Minar on Eid day demanding the resignation of the connectivity minister.
The government, instead of increasing safety measures on the highways, lambasted the people who raised this issue that time. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina came down heavily on those who arranged the sit-in program and directed intelligence agencies to gather details of the organisers of the sit-in.
Moreover, the families that suffer due to the road accidents are denied justice in most of the cases. One of the most remarkable examples is the one of filmmaker Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier.
The driver responsible for the death of this duo was granted bail after a platform of road transport owners and workers called an indefinite bus strike in 21 southwestern districts demanding the release of the driver. A minister gave them assurance that the government would accept all their demands.
According to a news report, 23 people were killed in road accidents singularly on January 30 in eight districts across the country. The number is higher than the total of 20 deaths due to the petrol bomb attacks in January.
The comparison is irrelevant to some extent but the numbers were compared because the government is about to deploy 12,000 Ansar personnel in 993 troublesome points of the highway to resist the petrol bomb attacks on the roads during the blockade program.
Though the total number of deaths due to the road accidents is ten times the number of deaths due to burn injuries according to the news reports, the government seems to have no concerns regarding the rampant deaths on the roads.
In Bangladesh, students are often asked to write essays on their first day at school. Most of them express their thrilling experience of the day when they came to their schools for the first time with their parents with eyes full of dreams. They write about their first teacher and friends who often become their soulmates in time.
Mehrab, the six-year-old child, will never be able to write about his first day at school. A reckless driver with his bus snatched away his life and all the dreams he had in his eyes. His family will probably never get justice. And this vicious circle of injustice will remain as it is.
The alleged arsonists were often paid back in their own coins; many of them had to give their lives in the “encounters” with law enforcers. The deployment of a huge number of law enforcers may put an end to such violence some day. But who will take the responsibility to save the people from these haunted highways?
