A baby was born on the road while her mother died in a road crash on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway near court building area in Trishal upazila of Mymensingh on Saturday. Jahangir Alam went to Trishal Upazila Health Complex upazila with his daughter and eight-month pregnant wife Ratna for conducting a medical test on the woman. An onion-laden truck ran them over while they standing to cross the highway, leaving all three family members dead on the spot. Critically injured Ratna gave birth to a baby girl before breathing her last on the highway.
Saturday was a fatal day on the roads and highways as at least 34 people were killed and many other injured in crashes in different districts of the country. We are deeply shocked and saddened at the tragic deaths of so many people in separate fatal road accidents.
People are dying on the roads and highways every day as there is almost no effective measure to prevent accidents. We do not want to hear the news of such tragic accidents every day. Such death is causing an irreparable loss to every family of the victims.
The government took several measures to enhance the vigilance on the roads and highways by utilising the modern information technology to prevent the road accidents. We are holding discussions, seminars, workshops and symposium alongside observing national road safety day that how and in what way such deadly road accidents can be reduced. Besides, national dailies are running stories, editorials and columns in this regard.
There is no alternative to raising
awareness among people
to check road mishap which
is a matter
of grave concern
But road crash still remains a big concern. The country is witnessing fatal road mishaps and many people are dying every day due to a huge numbers of small vehicles plying the highways and a lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned. Besides, chronic lack of investment in systemic, targeted, and sustained road safety programmes are also causing road crash.
Unhealthy competition among drivers and reckless driving, renting out buses on contractual basis, employing drivers without any license, lack of awareness among pedestrians are responsible for frequent road crashes. If the government fails to bring discipline in streets, massive development and progress in this sector will get faded.
We do not want to see the repetition of such deadly and tragic road crash that continue taking people’s lives and ruining many families. In order to reduce the number of road accidents, we must put forth concerted efforts to improve of road safety issues through engineering measures.
Uncontrolled speed of vehicles is one of the major reasons of road accidents. Hence, drivers must abide by speed limit to stop loss of life and property. Massive public awareness, regular training for drivers and necessary infrastructure are the prime prerequisites for preventing road accidents. So, there is no alternative to raising awareness among people to check road mishap which is a matter of grave concern.