News Desk : dhakamirror.com
World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was observed in Bangladesh on Sunday as elsewhere in the world.
To mark the day, different government and non-government organisations held different programmes on the day.
The day is commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year.
Dhaka North City Corporation on the day held a roundtable at the DNCC Nagar Bhaban with technical support from Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety and Vital Strategies to remember the road crash victims, said a press release issued by the corporation.
Teacher Rebecca Sultana Neela who lost her husband Ariful Islam in a road crash alleged that her husband died due to infrastructural faults on the road.
Retired teacher Rownak Karim, who lost his son Showvik Arjun in another road crash, urged the authorities to provide administrative assistance to the families like her.
The participants also demanded infrastructural development, proper traffic management, implementation of traffic rules and awareness among people to reduce road crashes.
The DNCC chief executive officer Mir Khairul Alam chaired the programme while BIGRS initiative coordinator Md Abdul Wadud and Vital Strategies technical consultant Aminul Islam Sujan and representatives from Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority, Dhaka Metropolitan Police, and World Health Organisation, were also present at the event, among others.
Dhaka Ahsania Mission on the day held a candle-lit vigil marking the day on the Manik Mia Avenue, said a press release issued by the non-government development organisation.
Around 50 people including road accident victims and their family members, students, representatives from the mission and member organisations of Road Safety Coalition Bangladesh participated in the vigil.
They demanded a separate ‘Road Safety Act’ to ensure safety on roads, meeting the Sustainable Development Goals targets and the Global Decade of Action for Road Safety.
In a message United Nations secretary-general António Guterres said, ‘We honour the 1.19 million lives lost every year on the world’s roads.’
He also said, ‘Recent data from the World Health Organisation highlights progress in reducing road traffic fatalities, but our journey to reduce road traffic deaths by half by 2030 is far from over.’
