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Probe into road crash cases proceeds at snail’s pace


Published : 22 Jan 2021 09:34 PM | Updated : 23 Jan 2021 01:37 AM

Police investigation in connection with 2956 cases in 4198 road accidents proceed at a snail's pace while 1845 drivers remain absconding last year.

 According to police information, there were 4,198 road accidents across the country in 2020. Of them 2,789 cases are under investigation.

Some 3,918 people were killed and 3,826 injured on roads that year. There have been 2,956 cases filed in connection with these incidents. And there have been 1,246 general diaries GDs). Among 2,956 cases of accidents 2,789 are under investigation.

However, according to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the number of road accidents and casualties is much higher.

Secretary-General of the Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association, Mozammel Haque Chowdhury told Bangladesh Post that road accidents are not properly reported, investigated and charged. Due to these reasons, the victims of accidents do not get justice. About 2-3 per cent of the cases filed in accidents get justice.

Concerned people said that drivers are most responsible for road accidents. At present there is a shortage of more than seven lakh drivers as compared to the vehicles.

In addition, the government has relaxed the law to allow drivers having light (private car) vehicle driving licence to drive medium quality vehicles and medium quality vehicles driving licence holders to drive heavy vehicles.

According to road safety experts, investigation into accident cases has been pending for long time due to various reasons. They claimed that many members of police maintain  friendship with transport owners and labour leaders.

However, the homes of those who died in the accident or the location of witnesses are not in same area most of the time. This is also one of the reasons for the low number of cases.

Due to these reasons, the drivers and others responsible for the accident get the chance.

Road safety experts said police lack experience in investigating the road accidents. They give chargesheet only blaming the driver without finding out the real reason responsible for the accident. This also weakens the case.

However, another police report found that the number of road accidents and casualties increased in 2019 and 2020 in the last five years. The number of vehicles has also increased at in the meantime.

However, the number of trained drivers has not increased. In 2016, 2,463 people died in 2,566 road accidents.

In 2017, 2,513 people died in 2,562 road accidents and in 2018, 2,635 people died in 2,609 accidents.

On the other hand, in 2019, the number of road accidents increased one and a half times to 4,147. In that year, 4,138 people died and 4,411 were injured in accidents.

In 2020, traffic was closed for several months due to coronavirus infection. However, 3,918 people were killed and 3,826 injured in 4,198 road accidents in that year.

A review of police data shows that not all accidents are prosecuted. Cases are usually filed in accidents in which there is a collision between two vehicles or a collision between a vehicle and pedestrian. The rest is General Diary (GD). Even if there is a case, it remains pending for long time for investigation.

In 2020, 2,956 cases were filed in 4,198 road accidents. Of them, only 26 cases remain pending and  2,789 cases are under investigation.

In this regard, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Traffic Department Chief Munibur Rahman told Bangladesh Post that the main reason for delay in the investigation into the road accident case is the lack of evidence. Because, due to lack of sufficient evidence, the charge sheet cannot be submitted to the court.

The additional commissioner of DMP said that it is difficult to get a plaintiff in a case after a road accident.