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6 years ago

People not aware yet about road safety: PM

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Expressing her regrets, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said awareness is yet to be created among people about road safety even after the recent student movement over the issue.

"There had been such a big accident (Airport Road crash) and a movement! Even then, we see no awareness among people. They're crossing roads chaotically," she said.

The Prime Minister came up with the statement on Wednesday while replying to a supplementary question from opposition MP Noor-E-Hasna Lily Chowdhury (Women Seat-44) in the parliament, reports UNB.

The Prime Minister said the country's people have a peculiar mindset as they start crossing roads before speedy vehicles just their raising hands though a running bus cannot stop abruptly all the time.

Criticising jaywalkers, she said even parents along with their minor children cross roads before many moving vehicles.

"Although a footbridge or an underpass is nearby, young pedestrians don't want to use these. They cross the roads running before speedy buses, which causes accident," she said.

Passersby do not want to wait even for a minute before crossing the road or for using footbridges or underpasses, she said.

"It needs to consider how much fault is on the part of pedestrians and how much on a driver in case of an accident," the Prime Minister said.

Sheikh Hasina said if any accident takes place, people tend to beat the driver instead of helping the victims. "To save his life, the driver speeds away running over the injured in many cases," she added.

"If people stop beating the driver in case of any accident, the number of accidents (casualties) will come down by 50 per cent," she said.

The Prime Minister mentioned that no one should take the law in hands; rather the driver should be handed over to police.

"I think all should abide by traffic rules on roads," she hoped.

The Prime Minister said the government has taken various measures, including marking Zebra-crossing, deploying traffic police and volunteers in front of schools and construction of underpasses and footbridges, to ensure road safety.

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