Dirving Me Nuts!!!

Having just driven between Uttara and Dhanmondi at night (the significance, being the night traffic was heavier than during the day), it was full of speeding, crazed, maniacal drivers, one in a rush of higher proportion than the next. They flicker their lights from the back, which in turn reflect inside my car, and also reflect back into my eyes, which I find highly irritating. However, that has become a code for most drivers in this city for "move out of my way". I, often, in an outraged state give them passage and once behind them try to take revenge by flickering my lights onto them. My car is a pretty old one (pre '90s model) and actually doesn't have lights as powerful as most cars out there (post 2000 models).

What is their rush? I often want to block there way, bring them to a halt, and ask them just that! Is there a heart attack patient you are trying to save? Or kill faster? A pregnant woman?

There is again an editorial in the paper titled "Fake Licenses". Having gone through the test and gotten a license, I don't see how having an authentic license really addresses this problem! I enrolled at a driving school for a 24 day program, and went for the first 5. I was really impressed with my instructor, who emphasized on the rules of the road - keeping to my side of the lane, not wavering onto the others, taking turns while maintaining my side, slowing down before taking turns, etc. One might read these and think - "Basics!". These basics are what is missing on the road these days. When I told a colleague about the instructions I got, he claimed that his instructor was not that expressive of the rules. The point of these courses mostly are to learn how to handle the machine. To know that a brake is a brake and the accelerator your pathway to beat everyone to the prize (whatever that is).

These crazy drivers are most lethal, when they are in control of a monstrous bus. Remember the police fixed the lanes for buses. What I saw come out of that most, is a chance to fine a lot of privately owned normal vehicles whereas the buses did what they always did. They pushed and shoved and went ahead of everyone. The worst case scenario of a traffic accident is death I suppose, and they stop short of that most of the time. And the driver's window is usually big enough for them to jump out and run away. I find most BRTC buses to be quite alright though, just the private buses who have bodies that show they don't care if they hit anyone, including other buses. Sometimes they jovially race down the roads and poke each other, unmindful of the world around them. The drivers can't even see the left side of his vehicle, and the assistant shouts out to him if theres a car or anything else. They have faulty lights and its upto one's imagination how they got the permit to be on the roads.

I am glad at least one picture of their glorious feats

reached us today through Prothom Alo.

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About our Professional Drivers

Been thinking about writing down my thoughts on the hullaballoo that is going on over increasing road safety. Before I could do so, Mr./Dr. Mohammad Ali Akbar Mallik, who is an engineer, already put his in Prothom Alo which I readily agree with.

BRTA's corruption is of course the first area to discuss. I have been to their Ikuria campus and the mirpur campus, and its easy for any simple man to get lost there. Its not that the place is big, but its crowded, with "Dalals" - the unofficial middlemen. The counters are either not labeled, or they are empty. The only way to determine what a counter is meant for unless there is a line in front of it, since then someone might entertain a question or two from you. It is indeed not a friendly place, and no civility is there. In terms of the writer's urge to modernize BRTA in the form of making a bigger campus, I hardly think that should be necessary. Considering how Dhaka has spread over and is jammed all the time, I think their operations should be more decentralized. The written tests, verbal tests etc, all tests short of the driving test, doesn't require a large area, and those could be arranged according to where people reside.

The idea of showing a video explaining road etiquette, how road accidents occur, and what the effects are of road accidents to the victims is a very good idea. That is just in line with how I was thinking about it. I drive everyday along the airport road, along Biswa road, and I see that most drivers are in fact, professional drivers. Regardless of whether there is a boss in the backseat, they are driving like absolute lunatics. I have usually seen car owners drive their cars cautiously, my father, my uncles, my wife, myself, or my friends, except maybe my younger brother and other youngsters who are mostly thrill seekers, and not really driving for practical reasons*.  Our professional drivers, they either have very little regard for the vehicles they drive, or just no regard for people. They wil cut into your lane very abruptly creating a risky situation, or come dangerously close to your car, to make you feel threatened and stop. Most of the time, a owner in the backseat, doesn't even care, as long as they can get to their destination fast. Others, like my father and eldest uncle, can go through 3/4 drivers in 3/4 months. My father currently doesn't have a driver. Meanwhile, the bigger the vehicle that a professional driver is manning, the bigger the risks he brings to everyone else. Buses have a habit of stopping in the middle of the road to take on customers. While the police can be seen stopping my car or other private vehicles often, they are very kind to these buses. Buses can be seen competing with other buses, to the point they drag along each others bodies. I have seen such a display on many occassions in the presence of the police. There is no reason to allow those drivers to sit behind a steering while for the rest of his life! These are clearly perverted individuals.

Whereas the author mentioned a video, I was thinking licenses would be conditional to a more elaborate training BRTA would conduct, including road safety issues, and visits to a hospital treating those who had lost a limb or suffered in any other way from an accident. Also, owners of vehicles should feel more responsible about how their hired drivers are conducting themselves. You can be the safest driver in town, but due to the professionals all around you, you are in now way out of danger. Talk to your drivers, and let them know what is right and what is wrong. Be human, for everyone's sake.

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* So, there is a good reason to restrict licenses to younger people. As far as I've heard, in USA licenses are given in stages. A 15 year old can only drive when in presence of a father or mother who can also drive, and then they graduate to being able to drive any family member, but not friends, and then slowly graduate to being able to just drive.

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Buses

You can tell how powerful and connected the bus owners' alliance is by the amount of things they get away with. Their buses are absoulute mounds of hazards running around in high speed and crunching cars and pedestrians alike. They pimped up their rides inside to fit in as many seats as possible by calculating the 0% of comfort they could provide a passenger, and they stuff the buses full till there are people standing against each other, breathing down on each other.

They have killed on many times and the bus driver's window is just large enough for him to escape through just so people don't catch him and beat him down. If that latter didn't happen, the driver probably wouldn't run, since he has no reason to really. He is protected.

If anyone caught the recent (June 18) indecent event that took place during a meeting to discuss bringing down bus fares, they'd know exactly what kind of people are protecting them.

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