Staff Correspondent/ Reporter, (Date :__/__/__):
Bangladesh has one of the highest accident rates in the world. In road accidents we have lost persons like (Name)….., we have lost (Name)……. and many such figures. According to statistics approximately 10 people die of road accidents every day.
Our road safety is really going from bad to worse. Every day we find the news of terrible accidents and the casualties but here is hardly any measure to prevent these.
Along with the increase in population, the number of vehicles on the road is multiplying. People’s movement has increased a lot. It is not very difficult to know about the causes of road accidents.
Some common causes of road accidents are very clear to us, first, our roads and streets are very narrow and vehicles move from two opposite directions. Secondly, there are poorly serviced vehicles plying on the roads. Thirdly, many inexpert drivers, who procure licenses in an unfair way, drive on the highway. Fourthly, our traffic-control service is poor. All these contribute to the risk of our road journey.
In order to ensure safe road communication, Govt. established the National Road Safety Council in 1992. The NRSC Secretariat was created within the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) in 1997, which was subsequently converted to the Road Safety Cell (RSC) in 2001.
Again, a two-year Road Safety Strategic Plan was formulated in 1997. A subsequent National Road Safety Strategic Action Plan 2002-2004 was organized into nine sectors: planning, data system, engineering, legislation, enforcement, driver training and testing, vehicle safety, awareness, and medical services. But there is hardly any visible progress. It is time Govt. took more effective measures to prevent deaths by road accidents.
