Editorial
The accident was just waiting to happen
We condole their tragic deaths
The festive Eid mood might not have all died down as the passengers on board a local bus on the Dhaka-Chittagong high way were reflecting on how to get back to rhythm at their work places in the port city. The commuters travelled with their families so that there were many women and children in the group. On the way the bus with a capacity for 52 passengers took on board as many as 30 more out of mindless greed for the fast buck thereby making the aging transport unstable under huge pressure of total body weight of passengers along with their personal effects.Then the inevitable happened as the vehicle tried to speed past a CNG auto-rickshaw. It turned upside down trundling before nose diving into the eight feet ditch where its diesel tank ruptured and caught fire. In the instant inferno, 41 people were snuffed out; with the firefighters having to come from a long distance, the victims simply roasted alive screaming helplessly. Road safety at all times is at a low key because of lack of highway patrol and poor surveillance at the terminals or major stopovers. Money seems to overrule law enforcement. But in times of festival vacations when the pressure on the road increases a holiday mood seems to prevail among those who must enforce rules on the highways. Three factors usually conspire to make an accident happen and all these are within the capacity of men to eliminate. First, the overwhelming number of transports are simply unfit to ply, especially the local buses. Why not phase them out re-enforcing the rule on time bar. Secondly, install speed governors in the buses where possible with wayside watch mounted at appropriate road bends or free stretches to check speeding. Last but not least, make sure that qualified personnel with tested eye-sight, antecedents, driving skill and knowledge of traffic rules get to drive the transports. We cannot put the lives of millions in the hands of amateurs on the wheel.
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