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Bumper controversy
As a reaction to the accident of a doctor who had been dragged by a car-bumper to death, the government has interdicted the use of extra bumpers in cars.
But, should an accident be handled with the temerity that the government has shown in this case? Shouldn't the government have given it a more serious thought before making such decision?
Don't get me wrong. I do sympathise with the aggrieved family. I know such losses leave the dear ones irrecoverably empty and their future perceptibly changed. I also think that the driver of the car should be punished for his carelessness.
But, there is another aspect that has to be brought into consideration. The streets of Dhaka are swarmed with rickshaws. The car-owners use extra bumpers in the cars mainly to safeguard their vehicles against the spiky protrusions in the central part of rickshaw-wheels. A minor scratch in the car can cause its owner to pay the painting-mechanic something between five hundred to one thousand taka.
If hundred cars get scratched and dented every day -- the number can actually be a lot more than that -- the owners, altogether, will be losing nearly one lakh taka. In a year the amount will rise up to more than three and a half crores taka. This is what will inevitably happen if rickshaws continue to ply the streets where the cars are not fairly protected.
A death can't be equated against any imaginable amount of money, since a life has more possibilities than what money holds. Therefore, bumpers had to be taken off someday. But, the government could have removed rickshaws from the streets of Dhaka before passing the order to remove bumpers from the cars.
Wouldn't that have been a more pragmatic way of discharging the case?
Asifur Rahman,
East Kafrul, Dhaka
***
Dr. Shahjahan Ali dropped his son and wife to the school on Mirpur Road. Then out of the blue, misfortune befell him and his family. A car hit the motorcycle he was riding and his left leg got entangled in the bumper of the car. As his horrified wife and pedestrians watched and shouted the doctor's body was dragged along the road. Whoever was driving the car wouldn't stop the car! Finally about a kilometre away the driver abandoned the vehicle and fled leaving the bloody and mangled body of the doctor. He was dead.
The death of the young doctor overwhelmed the citizens. Barrister Nazmul Huda, the minister concerned has acted fast. He ordered that all iron bumpers in cars, buses etc have to be removed by July 10. But most of the car owners consider this a wrong decision. As it may cause more accidents in future.
Bumpers absorb the hits and also protect the car and its occupants. The doctor didn't die because of the bumper, but because of the inhuman driver; or maybe he was scared of the public beating for his careless driving. The police nearby didn't do their duty, neither did other cars try to stop the runaway vehicle. Everybody who ventures outside knows the chaos, bedlam and lawlessness of Dhaka's traffic -- trucks and buses wouldn't obey the rules, rickshaws would come from opposite direction in one-way streets, drivers will honk and honk, pedestrians will not be careful in walking along roads or crossing such roads. So, what can we expect?
A car or a bus hitting a person and running away is not uncommon. But that doesn't seem to bother the police or the authorities. Maybe the novelty and gruesome nature of this fatality has caused national consternation.
Bumpers do serve a purpose. I hope that the government will withdraw this order. The end points of some bumpers sometimes protrude and can occasionally be hazardous. What can be done is to ask the vehicle owners to ensure that such ends of bumpers are bent inwards so that these do not act like a fish hook and catch unwary pedestrians.
Such thoughtless actions like banning iron bumpers wouldn't do. There are lots of other actions that need to be taken to ensure safety in Bangladesh's roads. The problem has to be examined in a holistic manner and solutions designed. Ad-hoc measures may be counter productive. A total solution is an extremely difficult proposition, but it can be done provided
there is will to do it.
Abdullah Haroon Pasha
Gulshan, Dhaka
***
Buses, tempos and rickshaws keep bumping into each other (including private cars) at a continuous interval. It is a common incident on the streets of Dhaka city at present and quite strangely we have become quite used to it.
The tragedy that occurred in Pantapath has touched us all. Shocking that the driver escaped from the sergeants and the public both. But I don't understand why is it the bumper that is being hanged by its throat? The driver has escaped; the police are not taking any responsibility; now the minister is looking for a scapegoat and who else is there but the poor bumper!
Agreed that a bumper can be risky if it is angled away from the car's body but the number of cars with such bumpers are small in number. And if still a car is running on the streets with such a protruded bumper then what the are the traffic sergeants (who are
positioned at every hook and corner of the road) are doing?
They should use the motorbikes for catching criminals once in a while. Anyway from now on, without a bumper I have to spend quite a large amount of money (say 10000) every month to take care of all the denting and paintings of my car. So I am off to my accountant in the office to discuss how to show a yearly deficit of 120000 from my income.
Tarek
Dhaka