VIPs driving through the wrong side
the scope of
penalising wrong side driving in Dhaka will have to be expanded throughout the city
Using the wrong side of the road, defying traffic laws during rush hours is a common practice of many of our ministers, government officials, VIPs, lawmakers, ruling party leaders as well as media personnel. Police are hardly ever seen taking any action. However, the culture for granting them silent exemption seems to be changing as police on last Sunday filed cases against some 57 VIP vehicles drivers and fined them for driving on the wrong side on Hare Road in the capital.
The fact is VIPs driving through the wrong side is doubly reprehensible and examples of this violation at Hare Road are actually the tip of the iceberg as far as the wrong side driving in Dhaka is concerned. Many of our VIPs, police and government high-ups are indiscriminately violating traffic laws throughout many of the roads in the capital. But police, encouraged by the Anti-Corruption Commission this time, have at long last begun to take legal actions against the VIPs for violating traffic laws, but the situation in Hare Road compared to other parts of the city, namely Motijheel, Dhanmondi, Mouchak, Maghbazaar and the main roundabouts of South Dhaka are the worst.
Police and the traffic in the stated roads are at times visibly helpless and forced to turn a blind eye when a VIPs flag car is passing through the wrong side. So much so, apart from CIP and VIPs vehicles, rickshaws and motorcyclists have been given an unofficial impunity from driving on the wrong side. The latter must be stopped because of causing avoidable accidents.
The point, however, the scope of penalising wrong side driving in Dhaka will have to be expanded throughout the city, instead of restricting it to any specific road or area. Vehicles with diplomatic number plates reportedly violate traffic rules within the Baridhara diplomatic zone and Gulshan, but surprisingly little action is taken against them. Moreover, BGB and army entourage too violates traffic laws in the name of escorting VIPs and also for providing security. Apart from emergency situation this must stop as well.
Now that reprimanding of driving on the wrong side by VIPs vehicles have begun, it should continue unimpeded and stop our audacious CIPs and VIPs drivers from driving on the wrong lane. The attempt to penalise reckless drivers were taken before but it was not sustained. Coupled with the drivers, the passengers, meaning the VIPs, too should order their drivers to follow traffic rules. Be it in the road or not, none is above the law.
