SCENE 1: Mr Samim Ahmed, a banker, was going by bus to Chittagong on official business. He was suddenly yelling at the bus driver when he tried to talk to somebody on his mobile phone. Immediately other passengers of the bus joined Mr. Shamim to refrain the driver from talking over phone while driving. Just imagine if Mr. Shamim did not notice and intervened timely we could be in problem. Who knows, newspapers on the next morning would have carried an item on a deadly accident on Dhaka-Chittagong highway.Â
Scene 2: Salman Arafat, a student of a private university was on his way to Comilla by bus. As the bus was moving, he suddenly noticed that the driver of the bus was driving recklessly at a speed of 90 kilometre per hour where the roadside signboard clearly indicated that the maximum speed allowed on the Dhaka-Comilla highway was 70 kilometres per hour. Immediately Salman took a screen shot of the speed tracker by using his Smartphone and sent it to the nearest traffic control room for taking legal action against the driver. After a while, the traffic police stopped the bus and arrested the driver.
 The above two scenes may be hypothetical, but are realistic and could lead to serious accidents and cause deaths to innocent passengers. Against the backdrop of an increasing number of accidents on our roads, we should be more particular about strictly enforcing relevant laws on driving. In doing so, the passengers can be of great help for the law enforcers. They are the people who can take immediate action to inform the law enforcers of any violation of laws by the driver while driving. Statistics show that most of the road accidents that happened in 2016 were because of the careless driving by the drivers. If the passengers raise their voice or use technology immediately, the number of road accidents shall come down noticeably.Â
Shakil Hosen
Vice president,
 East West University Environmental and Social clubÂ
shakilewu2013@gmail.com
Role of passengers in reducing road accidents
FE Team | Published: March 21, 2017 19:51:59 | Updated: October 22, 2017 01:23:53
Role of passengers in reducing road accidents
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