Fatal accidents on the roads remain one of the main concerns in the country. The government failed to minimize road accidents and for that matter deaths despite taking several initiatives.
The measures, however, remained largely on papers and did not see the light of the day.
Sabina Yeasmin, wife of Rafiqul Islam, was killed in a road accident in capital's Mirpur area on Tuesday noon while taking her two children to school. Like Sabina Yeasmin dozens of other innocent people get killed every day in avoidable street accidents.
Some 1,012 people were killed and 1,146 others
injured in road accidents across the country in January and February this year.
It means, on average, roughly 17 people died in road mishaps every day in the last two months.
During the period, a total of 848 road crashes took place while the number of accidents involving motorcycles was the highest, according to a report published by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).
In January, 543 people were killed in 431 road accidents while 469 people were killed in 417 accidents in February.
Some 1,437 vehicles were responsible for the road accidents that took place during the period.
According to experts, the road crashes can be attributed to plying of unfit vehicles, rash driving, lack of driving skills, mental and physical sickness of drivers, inadequate benefits for drivers, slow movement of vehicles on the highways, reckless bike ride by youths, improper traffic management system and lack of awareness about traffic laws.
They said the government's main failure related to developing the public transport system, such as by providing adequate training to drivers.
"Fixing an action plan is not good enough to ensure road safety. Strict execution of rules and political commitment is a must to reduce accidents," said Prof Md Hadiuzzman, Director at the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of BUET.
He urged for proper implementation of the Road Transport Act and proper maintenance of road and bridge infrastructure, in addition to raising the awareness of drivers, passengers, and pedestrians.
Experts and rights activists, however, said the number of fatal road accidents and casualties were higher than the government statistics showed as many accidents went unreported.
Directives from the High Court, different ministries and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police on road safety went largely unheard.
Most of the government authority always blamed reckless driving for the situation. He offered that launching of more awareness programmes and training for drivers would improve the situation.
