Heartbreaking letter from the mother of a boy who died in a traffic accident in Sarajevo last year

(Patria) - The World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims was marked today in Sarajevo. At least 3,000 people have died in traffic accidents in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the last ten years, said Osman Lindov, president of the Association of Traffic and Communications Engineers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, on Sunday.

Today's event was attended by Sunita Bečić, the mother of the boy Alija Bečić, a sixth-grade student at the “Aleksa Šantić” elementary school, who died nearly a year ago in the Sarajevo neighborhood of Nedžarići when he was hit by a truck on the street leading from school to home, which has no sidewalk, N1 reports.

She was not able to give statements to the media, but she said that the authorities have done nothing since the day her son died to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. She sent a letter on the occasion of remembering her son.

We publish her letter in full:

“Today marks 345 days since the death of Alija Bečić – a child, a sixth-grade student at the “Aleksa Šantić” elementary school, my son. Alija died on the street leading from school to home, a narrow, dark street with no sidewalk, where traffic is allowed even for trucks, although even a passenger car can barely pass.

After the accident, work was done to improve student safety.

Do parents send their children to school peacefully and wait for their return calmly? I don't know. I have no one to send to school nor anyone to wait for to return. But I see that children still go to school along the same narrow streets without sidewalks. I see and witness that the street where my Alija died is still used by trucks that are only a few centimeters narrower than the street itself.

They pass because there is no sign prohibiting heavy vehicles. Children pass by them too, because the signpost for the school is still there and the gate for entry is still open, although I was told a few days after Alija's death that the gate would be closed until the access road was fixed. I also see and witness new LED lighting, but without a sidewalk for it to illuminate.

I see and witness that the flashing “school” sign, which hadn't worked for years, is now lit even on Sundays, but I also see and witness that driving school vehicles of categories C and D turn around right next to it.

I see and witness that the route for driving and taking tests for trucks, trucks with trailers, and buses is only a few dozen meters away from the school whose student died from being hit by a truck, that the route is on the road students must take to get to school. Perhaps Sarajevo is so small that there are no other routes for learning to drive and taking tests for trucks than the one where an innocent boy died.

Perhaps for them, that death represents a smaller loss than changing the route. Perhaps the load-bearing capacity of the new speed bumps, to see how quickly they will sink and lose the function for which they were installed.

I see all sorts of things, and I wish I saw nothing. There are many questions and many “perhaps” to which I don't know the answer. But, although my loss is irreversible, I keep asking. I ask because one small grave obliges me to ask!

I ask because I am obliged by all the tearful eyes, frightened and petrified looks from that sad Friday last year!

I pray to dear God that no one ever experiences such a tragedy again. I pray to dear God to protect ALL our innocent children in our dark realm, our beloved and only homeland. Amen!”, said Sunita Bečić.