Tragedy under the wheel

RECKLESS driving has claimed another life on Tuesday as a minibus hit a rickshaw from the side near Kamalapur in the city and crushed under its wheel Roksana Begum, who had fallen on to the street. The woman was taking her little daughter home from her school. This is just another case added to the long list of tragedies on the road taking place rather frequently. And as in most cases, the delinquent driver and his assistants could flee the scene of accident unscathed.The circumstances of the accident as reported in the media clearly demonstrate that the killer bus driver could easily save the victim, had he been a little careful.We may recall a similar tragedy that took place in front of Willes Little Flower School at Kakrail more than three and a half years back. In that accident a speeding bus killed KG student Sheikh Hamim and critically injured his mother as they were crossing the road on their way home. Unlike in Tuesday’s case, the driver of Hamim’s killer bus was caught by the public. Even so we are not aware, like in numberless other cases, if the driver was duly punished for his offence.Cases of careless driving ending up in such sad accidents deserve harsher punitive actions than are in practice. We would urge the government to have a serious rethink on the issue so that stern penal measures with deterrent effect are instituted to deal with reckless driving.