Editorial
Tragic death of youngsters
Reckless driving must be controlled
It is difficult to accept the death of 43 young people, all in the very early prime of their life in a tragic road accident at Mirsaria last Monday. Our heart goes out to their bereaved parents and relatives. The students most of them school-going, all aged between 10 and 18, were returning home after watching a soccer match at the local stadium. According to witness reports, the vehicle was over speeding and it may have even been driven by the helper and not the driver, and he was speaking on the cell phone while driving. The truck plunged into a road side ditch in trying to avoid colliding with a 'nasimon', an improvised three wheeler.
The unfortunate deaths bring to focus several aspects of highway safety and following traffic rules.
The students were traveling in an open truck, which in itself is an insecure way of carrying small children, apart from the fact that there were 70 of them in one truck. And we are surprised that the school authority did not ensure that there was a qualified person at the wheels, or for that matter the company that owned the truck did not bother to put a qualified driver to drive the truck.
According to witness reports, the driver was driving recklessly all along before it met the accident. He even disregarded caution from the students and at one point some of them stopped the truck and got out fearing an accident. It appears too that there was no one responsible enough from the school accompanying the children, in the truck. Had there been one he should have stopped the driver from proceeding further after the driver failed to heed the warnings.
We also wonder where the highway patrol was during all this time. We are certain there was none. Had there been one it should have stopped the vehicle and arrested the errant driver. We also wonder how the 'nasimon,' a local contraption that is forbidden to ply on the highways, came to be there.
This is a manmade tragedy that the authorities must go into. Unless appropriate supervision and control are ensured such tragedies will keep on being repeated.
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