National Safe Roads Day

On June 5, the cabinet approved a proposal to declare October 22 as National Safe Roads Day. This is a welcome move by the government that can do wonders for road safety throughout the country if implemented widely and not simply observed as a one-day, ceremonial affair.

Designating a particular day to observe road safety will no doubt raise awareness and may even help reduce deaths due to road accidents to some extent. However, awareness alone is not enough. 

It is imperative to give special attention to road infrastructure and network—much of which is in a shambles. The poor condition of the majority of roads and highways in the country is one of the primary causes of road accidents.

A leading Bangla daily recently published some depressing statistics. In the last 114 days alone a staggering 1,002 people died in road accidents. Most of these deaths happened on highways and were related to high speeds and recklessness of drivers. 

Although both the Road Transport Act 2017 and Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1983 address the issue of road accidents due to speeding, an utter disregard for the law and the lack of its implementation result in lawless drivers repeatedly getting away with breaking traffic rules.

So while the observance of National Safe Roads Day is a step in the right direction, without proper road infrastructure and implementation of laws there can be no real progress in terms of road safety. In this regard, coordinated efforts are needed between the Roads and Highways Ministry, Road Transport and Highways Division and law enforcement agencies across the country.