The most tragic road accident on the National Highway in Kaziranga on Friday claimed about 30 lives and once again highlighted the issue of travel safety in the state. No official reason has yet been cited as the cause of the accident. But any layperson can easily point out that overloading and over-speeding were two major reasons for this incident. As has been reported, the ill-fated bus, which had a seating capacity for only 26 passengers, had at least 41 passengers on board when the accident occurred. How so many passengers fit into the 26-seater bus is in itself an important aspect that requires serious investigation. Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while visiting the accident site on Saturday, has told the media that the possibility of the driver of the ill-fated bus losing control over the wheel because of a sudden health issue like heart attack, stroke, or sudden fall or increase of blood pressure cannot be ruled out. Though the police have said that the ill-fated bus had no fitness issue, what has, however, come to light is that the bus had a history of flouting speed limit restrictions and had paid penalties on as many as nine occasions in the past year or so. The authorities have acknowledged, in various ways, that the condition of that stretch of the highway was subpar. Even otherwise, the two-lane highway stretch between Bokakhat and Jakhalabanda has a lot of speed restrictions, with a number of speed-limiting devices, apart from prominent signage warning drivers of the heavy penalty for crossing the prescribed limit. It is common knowledge that passenger buses and dumper trucks across the country are notorious for rash driving and over-speeding, and Assam is no exception. Drivers of almost all categories of passenger buses – both long-distance and short-distance – are also known for competing among themselves in a kind of race by overtaking on the highway as if they were on a racetrack. The transport authorities and police deserve most of the blame for allowing laws to be broken. Bus owners too should be penalised for such tragedies because most of them indirectly encourage overcrowding and over-speeding in order to earn more. Citizens must also share some of the blame; many of them habitually board already overcrowded buses, often underestimating the dangers of overcrowding and over-speeding, which can lead to fatal accidents. In the instant case, Chief Minister Sarma was seen on Saturday in visual media asking a few college students of Bokakhat-Kaziranga whether the college authorities have taught them about the risks of boarding overcrowded buses. The Kaziranga tragedy also establishes the fact that road safety week is observed just as an annual ritual and has thus remained ineffective, with the primary messages failing to influence Gen-Z.