Festival time is cherished because of escape from the drudgery or monotonous routine life. But it is also a time when mass movement of holidaymakers takes place. When the rush of people is overwhelming, there is always some apprehension of road accidents, given the systemic weakness in traffic management in this country. But the long holidays during the two Eid festivals this year have substantially eased the passengers' pressure off. Although no single major accident involving death of many people was reported, the number of road fatalities during the past six days starting from June 5 was reportedly no fewer than 40. Apart from turning the joyous occasion into a tragic one for the families of road-accident victims, there were similar disasters for families where their members opted for suicide because of extreme poverty. Two fathers also died while trying to save their drowning son and daughter in separate incidents -- one in Moulvibazar and another at Cox's Bazar sea beach. To add to the tragedy, a pilot of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and the managing director of TEAM Group, a leading apparel manufacturer, died by drowning following capsize of the canoe they were riding. However, the accident took place in a distant land -- Canada.
What follows from all these tragic deaths is that some of those are avoidable and others are not. Even a few of the tragic occurrences that apparently look like unavoidable can provide a new insight if they are given a closer scrutiny. For example, the death of the Biman pilot and his friend, an apparel businessman, could be avoided if they did not ignore the basic rule of wearing life jacket before boarding the canoe. In case of road accidents in Bangladesh, investigation does not pinpoint the avoidability. Right now, the reports carried in the print media and aired by the electronic media have pointed accusing fingers at rash driving for the head-on collisions between vehicles or one going off-track to hit a roadside tree or fall into a ditch.
Indeed, rash driving may be a cause of a few of the accidents. But a closer look may identify some other causes ingrained in a flawed system. In time of festival, the number of drivers does not increase suddenly, but the number of buses does. Many of these are old and unfit but those are readied by applying a fresh coat of paint to give them a new look. They are potentially hazardous and when inexperienced drivers are saddled to the steering wheel, chances of accidents are sure to be higher. Even seasoned drivers are not immune to accidents if they are not allowed to take enough rest before they are compelled to carry on their long haul duty.
It is not just in rush time during festivals, drivers of most of the long route bus services do not get enough rest but also in normal time they are overworked and get tired and drowsy. Mechanical failure at times cannot be avoided even if maintenance is up to date. But when buses are more than 20 years old and should be dumped into the junk yard and yet no action is taken or the authorities succumb to organised pressure against any such corrective action, the inevitable happens. When people get killed in accidents involving such vehicles, this is plain murder. That life is precious is forgotten here and this is why such irregularities can prevail. The interim government has evidently missed the chance of streamlining the transportation system.
