The adviser to the interim government for road transport and bridges ministry, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, on Tuesday said that the authorities concerned were now considering road crashes from the human angle instead of as statistics only.
鈥楻oad crash causalities are not statistics to us now,鈥� he said, adding, 鈥楾he fatal road crash victims were someone鈥檚 children, father or brother.鈥�
He also expressed hope that the interim government would not fail to satisfy the nation by controlling road accidents in which the previous government had failed.
鈥楨ven if we fail, the next generation will not fail to gift safe roads,鈥� he added.
The adviser said these at a discussion organised by the Road Transport and Highways Division under the ministry at the Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital marking National Road Safety Day.
This year the day was observed with the slogan 鈥楽tudent-people鈥檚 promise: safe road for all鈥�.
During the programme, some students held a banner and chanted slogans for changing the date of the day to July 29.
Two college students were killed by a reckless bus in Dhaka on July 19, 2018, following which a countrywide student protest erupted and the government same year enacted the Road Transport Act 2018.聽
Chief guest Fouzul Kabir Khan said that the students showed how to restore order on roads during their protests in 2018 and 2024.
鈥榃e think that our generation has failed in many things and a big example is not being able to establish minimum safety on roads,鈥� he said, adding that in 2018 the students controlled traffic which brought back order on roads and reduced road accidents significantly.
The adviser said that that trend, however, did not sustain.聽
All stakeholders including transport owners, workers, passengers and pedestrians should follow laws and rules, he continued.聽
Public Security Division, under home affairs ministry, senior secretary Mohammad Abdul Momen said that earlier former shipping minister and Bangladesh Road Transport Workers鈥� Federation president Shajahan Khan had demanded driving licences for 25,000 non-eligible people.
At the programme, the road transport adviser handed over a cheque of Tk 6 lakh to Saiful Islam, father of Tasnim Jahan who was killed when an Akash Paribahan bus ran over her and her sister Nusrat Jahan while they were crossing Pragati Sarani in the Uttar Badda area in the capital on October 9. Nusrat survived the accident.
The incident occurred as two buses of Akash Paribahan were racing each other.
For the crash, Tk 5 lakh was given from the government for the death of Tasnim and Tk 1 lakh for the treatment of Nusrat.
With tears in his eyes, Saiful Islam urged the new government to ensure safety on roads so that such incidents could not be repeated.
The discussion was attended, among others, by Road Transport and Highways Division senior secretary Md Ehsanul Haque, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman Md Yeasin, representatives from different transport associations and students from different educational institutions.