Though the entire nation disappointingly got used to unnatural deaths on roads, two road accidents on Friday shook the already numbed emotion of the people. One of these two accidents happened in the capital’s Shahbag area, in which a housewife named Rubina fell from a motorcycle on the road after being hit by a private car. Her clothes got stuck in the wheels of the car. The driver, a former associate professor of the University of Dhaka, dragged her from there to Nilkhet. Turning a dump ear to the shout from pedestrians, the teacher accelerated the car, instead of stopping. On the same day, five people, including a father and son, were killed when a covered van rammed into an eatery on the highway in Manirampur upazila under Jashore district.
The major cause of road accidents often blamed is the drivers’ educational qualification which makes them unable to understand modern road instructions. However, when an educated person causes an accident but reacted in such a brutal way, then what is to say?
But how long do we allow such anarchy and continue to incur a family, social and economic loss? The policymakers must think about the country’s welfare, instead of political goals. There is no way but to enact stricter laws and implement those to halt the death procession on roads. The sooner they realise it, the better.