Renowned actor and road safety campaigner Ilias Kanchan said some 23 directives issued by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina for ensuring road safety have not been implemented in the country.

He said: “Our prime minister has given at least 23 directions on different occasions to reduce road accident in the country but those have not been implemented.” 

Ilias Kanchan was addressing a programme held in Dhaka on Sunday (October 22) marking the national Road Safety Day.

Alongside these, the United Nations has also come up many recommendations to reduce road accident but those have not also been implemented in the country, he said.

“We will have to make people aware in using roads and we have to adopt some strategies to make the efforts successful,” he also said.

Expressing his grave concern over the increasing trend of the road accident, Kanchan said people have no adequate knowledge on how to make the country’s roads safe and secured.

“I personally think that if the authorities can introduce a course on traffic engineering at all educational institutions including universities and schools then the spate of road accidents can be reduced,” he said.

Despite the enactment of the Road Transport Act in 2018, its full implementation has been agonisingly slow, leaving a trail of uncertainty and inadequate protection for road users.

In 2021, the victims of road accidents increased further with 6,284 people killed in 5,371 accidents.

Then, last year, 6,829 accidents killed 7,713 people, and from January to September this year, 4,227 road accidents killed 4,346 people’.

BDST: 1249 HRS, OCT 22, 2023
SMS