Volume 5 Issue 09| September 2011

Road accidents: We need a social movementRoad accidents have become a common feature of our everyday lives. We find them in the news every day, including the recent deaths of filmmaker Tareque Masud and journalist Mishuk Munier and politician Saifur Rahman some time ago. Statistics reveal that it is high in the northern region compared to other parts of the country and road safety in general has been deteriorating with an increasing number of road accidents and deaths resulting from them, largely as a direct consequence of rapid population growth, modernisation, urbanisation and lack of investment in road safety and lack of initiatives to prevent traffic accidents.

Different means of transportation and vehicles play a significant role in accidents. With the growth in population, the number of vehicles has also increased to a large extent because of the mobility of mass people which has increased due to their economic, social and business needs. With the rise in the number of vehicles, the rate of accidents has also increased.

Statistics show that in Bangladesh the number of fatalities has increased 2.5 times over 10 years between 1994 and 2003. Road accident rates are high in Bangladesh compared to other developing countries, at over 100 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles. It has also other social effects on the affected families. Between 70-80% occur on highways and rural roads. Most (85%) accidents happen through hitting pedestrians, rear and end collision, head on collision and over turning.

The principal contributing factors for accidents are adverse roadside environment, poor detailed design of junctions and road sections, excessive speeding, overloading, dangerous overtaking, reckless driving, carelessness of road users, failure to obey mandatory traffic regulations, variety of vehicle characteristics and defects in vehicles. Others include a low level of awareness of the safety problem, inadequate and unsatisfactory education of safety rules and regulations and inadequate and unsatisfactory traffic law enforcement and sanction. The distribution of accidents on road network is characterised by 'clustering' at few sites, demonstrating that accidents are amenable to site specific countermeasures. Thus bus and truck together account for majority of traffic accidents in Bangladesh and have a disproportionately larger role in reported accidents.

Non-motorised vehicles in large numbers ply on the same road alongside buses and trucks, increasing the risk of collision. There is no demarcated space for any type of vehicles and usually roads have no dividers to separate incoming from outgoing vehicles. Roads often do not have footpaths and those that do exist are mostly occupied by unauthorised shops and at times even by vehicles. Buses and trucks and other vehicles do not usually have demarcated parking spots and quite often they stop on the road to drop off and pick up passengers and goods from any point they find convenient. Roads spaces get narrower as roadside shops and markets spill over and occupy road space. There is a clear lack of enforcement of traffic rules and laws relating to driver licenses, vehicle registration, fitness, etc.

The fatality rates', i.e. the estimated number of road traffic accident fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles of Bangladesh (over 100) is very high by international standards, as the fatality rates for motorized countries is usually less than 2. The 'fatality index' (deaths divided by total casualties as a percentage) in Bangladesh is over 75%, which is the highest among developing countries. This signifies probably two important characteristics, viz. the widespread under reporting of less serious accidents and the lower level of emergency medical services available to accident victims.

This is a major challenge for the development of Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, 20,000 people die every year due to road accidents. The United Nations has declared '2011-2020' as the Decade of Road Safety. To prevent road accidents and save lives, Light House, a voluntary organisation in Bogra initiated 'Road Safety Project' in August 2010 and focuses on youth involvement.

We can save lives with such social movements. It is high time to fight against road accident through social movements for the development of Bangladesh and people of all sectors including the government, NGOs, corporate houses, politicians, journalists, teachers, students, religious leaders, community people and civil society members should come forward to reduce road accidents through awareness campaigns at the community level and by assisting organisations which work toward this.

Md.Nasir Uddin M.Phil Fellow, Institute of Bangladesh Studies University of Rajshahi