Speakers at a post-rally training workshop have stressed for ensuring safer use of roads, building adequate awareness and professional skill of the drivers to reduce road accidents for saving thousands of lives annually.They were addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day training workshop on ‘Enhancing Expertise and Awareness of Professional Vehicle Drivers-2015’ at Town Hall auditorium here on Saturday.Rangpur district administration and Rangpur Circle of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) organised the awareness building training workshop for the professional drivers to ensure road security for reducing roads accidents.Earlier, a rally, participated by officials of the district administration and BRTA, District Motor Owners’ Association (DMOA), District Motor Workers’ Union (DMWU) and professional drivers, was brought out in the city.Deputy Director for Rajshahi Division of BRTA Uttam Kumar Barua attended the inaugural ceremony as the chief guest with Additional District Magistrate of Rangpur Tonima Tasmin in the chair.Assistant Director of BRTA ATM Abdul Awal attended the ceremony as the special guest and later presented the keynote paper in the training workshop narrating major reasons behind road accidents.Joint Secretary of DMOA Azizul Islam Raju, President of DMWU Tazul Islam Mukul, General Secretary of District Truck and Tank-lorry Workers’ Union Shahidul Islam Manik also addressed.The speakers blamed inefficiency of some drivers, faulty vehicles without fitness, road conditions, hat-bazaars on roads, inadequate traffic signals, overlooking roadside signals, using mobile phones while driving, speed barkers, drying of paddy, wheat, jute, maize and other crops on roads, illegal occupation of roads, lack of awareness among pedestrians and overtaking as the major causes behind road accidents.They said ten hundreds of people have been dying from road accidents with thousands of the others injured and many of them becoming physically handicapped annually in the country.Narrating huge losses of lives, the speakers stressed for proper training of vehicle drivers, properly issuance of driving licenses by the BRTA and obeying traffic rules by all concerned to avoid road accidents.They put special emphasis on also creating mass public awareness to reduce the extent of road accidents and huge losses of lives, physical injuries and saving thousands of people from the wraths of accidents every year.The chief guest suggested the vehicle drivers, common people including pedestrians, to properly identify the reasons behind road accidents for behaving accordingly to reduce road accidents through ensuring better driving on the roads and highways. -BSS, Rangpur
