It is disheartening to know that three men were crushed to death in a horrible accident in Narayanganj's Kanchpur area on the Dhaka-Chattogram highway on February 5. According to police, the victims were standing behind a Chattogram-bound Borak Paribahan bus, which was parked at the Kanchpur intersection to board passengers, when another bus of Homna Super Services hit it from behind, leaving the three men critically injured. Later they succumbed to their injuries. Reportedly, the accident took place as the two buses were competing with each other to catch more passengers.

The accident reminds us of the horrific road crash that happened in Dhaka's airport road in 2018 when two students of Shaheed Ramiz Uddin Cantonment College were crushed to death as two buses of Jabal-e-Noor Paribahan were competing with each other to get more passengers. The death of the students led to a nationwide movement for road safety. Although the government then promised to take measures to bring discipline to our chaotic road transport sector amid pressure from the protesters, nothing much has changed in these two and a half years. The much-talked-about Road Transport Act still could not be fully enforced due to opposition from certain quarters protecting the interests of transport owners-workers, and because of a lack of initiative from the authorities.

The result is, a staggering number of people continue to lose their lives on our roads on a regular basis. Only recently, a young couple were crushed under the wheels of a bus in Dhaka after it hit their motorcycle. It breaks our hearts to think what will happen to their only child who has been made an orphan by the accident. The long list of road accidents that take place every day and the equally long list of victims only make it evident that no one in power actually cares for the lives of common people who have to commute by public transports.

In order to bring some form of discipline on the roads, there is no alternative to fully enforcing the Road Transport Act-2018. The confusions and controversies regarding the law must be removed by holding discussions with all the stakeholders concerned. The government must play a proactive role here. Without an effective law and its proper enforcement, our roads will remain as precarious as ever.