Not accidents, but murders

Families gather to mourn deaths in road crashes
Sufia Kamal Auditorium of the National Museum was plunged into a sombre mood yesterday with the arrival of family members of road accident victims.
They were sobbing uncontrollably and some of them were trying to choke back tears as they recounted how their near and dear ones were killed in road accidents.
Families United Against Road Accidents organised a meeting to raise awareness of road safety in Bangladesh.
“I want justice for the killing of my son,” said Sonia Sheikh, mother of Hamim, a kindergarten student, who was run over and killed by a bus recently.
“He was right there holding my hand and today he is just a framed photo,” she said with tears welling up in her eyes.
She demanded strict enforcement of law with more penalties for drivers.
Describing her nephew Arnab’s death lawmaker Tarana Halim said, “A truck, in the blink of an eye, ruined the family of my sister. Death like this is not merely an accident — it was a murder.”
“Sadly no families of the victims have ever got justice for their losses,” she added.
About 617 cases were filed for road accidents last year but there has been no record that a driver has been punished for killing people, she said.
Bangladesh is a country with the highest number of road accidents compared to the number of motor vehicles.
According to Accident Monitoring Cell of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), a total of 3381 road accidents took place in 2009. The number of deaths in those accidents was 2958 while 2223 people were seriously injured.
In 2008 the number of accidents was 4427 with 3765 deaths and 2720 grievous injury.
According to police, 98 percent of the accidents happen due to reckless or careless driving. The main culprits are usually the minibuses and buses.
Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shahidul Haque stressed the need for tougher laws.
“The law is not strict enough to deal with such offences. The highest punishment is only three years’ imprisonment and it is bailable,” he said.
“However, one should not put the blame on drivers only. It depends on many other factors. There is no option but to conduct a massive awareness programme among drivers, transport workers, passengers and pedestrians,” he noted.
Samia Halim, Prof Nazrul Islam, Asma Kibria and Momtaz Hossain, among others, spoke on behalf of bereaved families.
M Shafiullah, vice chancellor of BUET, lawmakers MS Akbar, Fazle Rabbi, Aupu Ukil, Asma Zerin, and RTV Director M Hamid also spoke.

Courtesy of The Daily Star