Every life is worth living

Everybody is in a mad rush. Some go to the office for their jobs, some go to their business establishments, while some others, especially elderly citizens, take their still sleepy grandsons or granddaughters to schools. Some people walk in steady steps as they get up early in the morning to reach their office located in a not-too-distant place, some stride and get to their workplace in three or four steps as it is only a stone’s throw away from home, some manage to stagger to office as they don’t have a good sleep the night before, workers trudge awkwardly towards their garments factories after the last night’s overtime duty while some others queue up at a bus stand to reach Dhaka from Narayanganj with two minds thinking if they really can please their bosses stepping into the office on time amid traffic congestion.

It is a nightmarish experience for those who go to Dhaka every morning. Once their buses are stuck in a jam on the Jatrabari Flyover they usually become restless and frequently try to peep through the windows of the buses to see how long the congestion of vehicles is. After a wait for half an hour or so, they get off the bus and start their journey on foot. Being a regular Dhaka-bound passenger, I know how they feel. As they embark on their journey on foot, they think at least they are on the move and sooner or later, they can reach the office.

It is a blessing for those who walk to their offices but a journey by train or bus squeezes all stamina and energy out of their bodies. Everyone is in trouble as the morning never shines upon them. The day breaks over a dreadful and dismal world. Parents, grandfathers, or grandmothers who have cars to take their children to school suffer no less than others. We usually think those people are lucky enough to possess private cars. But we are very much wrong as even cars nowadays can’t ensure kids’ entry to schools in time due to heavy traffic jam.

Again a new nuisance adds to their woes as the country has no parking space. Even you don’t have much time after you drop your kids at the entrance of schools as police wait in ambush everywhere to seize your car. One needs at least a few minutes to drop their kids off and turn their cars, and if there is a long line of vehicles in front of the school, it may take ages to maneuver your car through a crowded street.

As you keep waiting before the school entry gate for other vehicles to pass police are there to ask for your documents of the car. As you hand them over to them, they file cases for illegal parking. You are just taken aback. As soon as your car documents are seized all hell loose upon you as you know how difficult and painstaking it is to get your documents back. Some policemen file cases while others don’t. One of their representatives come to you, takes your car documents, and tells you to go to his ‘sir’. ‘Sir’ waits for you somewhere nearby to go to him for an underhand dealing.

If the case is filed, the money you have to pay obviously goes to the government’s coffer, but if you strike an underhand dealing, it doesn’t. I am not blaming all policemen, but a section of them unleashes terror in the minds of car owners and drivers. The way they flag down a car it seems they are going to capture a criminal. I wonder if there is something like that in other countries. We are calling our country a digital one, but there is yet to be any digital method that can identify a fast-driving car violating the speed limit or parking rules on streets. Obviously, car documents should be checked out, but why is not the government adopting the speeding ticket system? If it can be applied effectively to not only private cars but also to all modes of vehicles, I think, it might reduce road accidents considerably.

Not only in mornings but also throughout the day and night this mad rush and sordid swarming of life goes on everywhere. Very often this mad rush takes people’s lives. Former teachers of Dhaka University (DU) from whom we learn to be humane, thoughtful, calm, composed, and such expectations are very natural from a person who used to teach the highest seat of learning in the country. But when a teacher also behaved like an uneducated man and valued his life more than others, is shocking and unnerving.

The private car of the DU teacher hit a motorbike that day at about 3:00pm on December 2, 2022. After the car had rammed into a motorcycle on which a woman was riding pillion on the Dhaka University campus. The woman fell off the motorcycle and was pinned under the car. Onlookers and pedestrians, whoever saw the tragic accident, were shouting at him to stop the car to save the lady, but his car dragged the woman almost a kilometer before people caught him.

I don’t know what was going on in his mind. I am pretty sure he was scared for his life. He might have been thinking of being beaten to death by the mob. He desperately wanted to escape the mob because he valued his life more than the woman. The result is always devastating when we think about our own lives rather than others. Exactly it happened on that fateful day. In this case, it saved the life of the former DU teacher as he only suffered injuries after a mob beating, but the woman died at a hospital. If only he had stopped his car, the woman, I am pretty sure, could have been saved.

Road accidents not only have its devastating impact on the victims and his/her families, it also bears heavy economic cost. Property damage, workplace productivity loss, household productivity loss, medical expense, traffic congestion, and what not? Incredibly, road accidents take a heavy toll on the poor and the economy. They disproportionately affect poor people.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report published in the international media, road traffic injuries cause a loss of 2 per cent of GDP in Bangladesh. The loss almost equals the total foreign aid received in a fiscal year.

Accidents happen everywhere in the world, which is why we call it an accident, but what we are worried about is the nature of the accident, i.e. the way it happens. In this case, I am not blaming the apathy of the concerned agencies of the government. Sometimes it happens due to our own apathy and indifference when we value our own lives more greatly than others. Sitting behind the wheel we never think that many lives on streets are at our mercy. If we do so, a good number of accidents can be easily averted.

The writer is a journalist. He can be contacted at [email protected]