Editorial
Reckless driving
Get the basics right to stop it
In the wake of the High Court order requiring installation of speed monitoring devices in all vehicles, the government is reportedly planning to seek permission of the court to adopt some different measures. The HC, to our understanding, wants to see 'speed governors' installed in motorised transports.
However, reasoning that having speed monitoring devices fitted in all vehicles maybe a difficult and expensive proposition, the authorities are thinking of speed cameras and speed guns on the roads to monitor vehicular movement. Its economical and technical feasibility is planned to be weighed up through a pilot project before being replicated. This sounds like a tall order, given that such a fundamental equipment as signalling system has been operated so poorly in the metropolis!
We are all for modernising traffic management based on the use of latest technology but there is no short-circuiting what is basically a process. We must subject ourselves to a reality check as to where we are now and adopt a phase by phase approach, albeit on a progressive scale.
More to the point at this stage is getting the basics right. Where fitness certificates of transports and the driving licences are mere shreds of faked paper, bus conductors and assistants can take to wheels, vehicles stop just about anywhere on the road and rush out pressing the accelerator at will, the areas that cry out for immediate attention are all too glaring to ignore anymore. And, to be honest, each one of these aberrations of abject indifference to human life is avoidable and correctable.
As for our recipe of an antidote, we must do that which we should and can do -- to ensure full contribution of the human element to the traffic management agenda. A corruption-free and efficient Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) should be the immediate goal. To realise this, we need to increase capacities within the BRTA along with computerisation of its functions.
Simultaneous with ensuring competency of drivers and road-worthiness of vehicles, the authorities direly need to run orientation and reorientation courses for the drivers by way of awareness building about compliance with rules. This should be primarily aimed at instilling a sense of responsibility and social commitment in the drivers towards value of human lives as a trust reposed in all fellow human beings to fulfil.
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