Editorial
A most tragic death
Educate drivers and discipline students
WE are deeply saddened by the tragic death of Khandaker Khanjahan Samrat on Thursday. The heart-rending manner of the BUET student's death is a reminder once more of the menace which roads and bad drivers have become. We have repeatedly spoken of what must be done to ensure security of life on our roads. With a rapidly increasing density of population in the urban areas, it is only natural that the number of vehicles on the roads will also go up. Unfortunately, such factors have not been complemented by measures towards improved road safety. Conservative estimates alone place the annual number of deaths from road accidents in the country at more than four thousand. The figure could certainly be a lot higher. One can of course argue that accidents can and do happen everywhere. But what makes matters rather different in Bangladesh is the quality of drivers behind the wheels here, especially on public transport.
It is time for the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority to take serious note of the problem. There are a number of steps it can and must take if road mishaps are to be brought down. The BRTA and with it the traffic authorities must ensure that all kinds of public transport employ drivers trained thoroughly in the rules of the road. All too often, drivers, particularly in the capital, are individuals with hardly any understanding of how they must steer their vehicles through the busy streets. They have no idea of how or where to park the vehicles. When they drive, they are prone to changing lanes without the standard warning they should demonstrate for others using the road. When they have their vehicles move back into a spot, they are not particularly careful about who they might be bumping into or forcing under the wheels. It was this last bit that ended Samrat's life on Thursday.
The question of why there is no monitoring of vehicles and their drivers and whether there will be any move now to regulate them comes up here. The BRTA must demonstrate professionalism here by checking the licences of drivers as well as the road worthiness of their vehicles. It has long been an open secret that fake licences are issued to drivers. Where is the BRTA to put a stop to such fraud and to make sure that properly trained drivers, with full knowledge of traffic norms and regulations, are behind the wheels of not only public vehicles but also privately-owned ones? Unless educated drivers are there, there is little hope of any improvement in the situation. Accidents will keep happening and citizens will keep registering their outrage.
We move on now to the vandalism which followed the accident on Thursday. We have repeatedly made our position against all manner of lawlessness clear. And that is why we condemn in the strongest words the violence which the students of BUET let loose after Samrat's death. Judging by the way in which they torched several vehicles and the staggered time span in which they did it, it is clear that they had a well thought-out plan before them. We understand that people will grieve in the face of tragedy, but must grief turn into destruction? And yet that is precisely what we have seen in recent times, at Dhaka College, at Titumir College and at other places.
The time has come for the academic community to seriously consider counselling for their students. Students must be trained to understand that violent behaviour is a bad aberration and will not be tolerated under any circumstances.
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