Amdadul Haque
Various steps taken by law enforcement agencies and transport sector regulators to check road fatalities in the country have yielded little results. Passenger rights and road safety activists hold plying of unfit vehicles, reckless driving, and bad road condition mainly responsible for the failure of the measures to combat road accidents.
Three persons were killed in two road crashes on Wednesday at Jatrabari in the capital and at Begumganj in Noakhali district. In February alone, at least 534 people were killed and 1,169 injured in 504 road crashes across the country, according to Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passenger rights platform.
Statistics with the Samity show at least 445 people died and 834 others were injured in 340 road accidents in January. The death toll in road crashes in 2019 was 18 per cent higher than the previous year’s with road safety activists fearing increased number of road accidents in the current year.
They say most accidents take place on highways at night when drivers of almost all types of vehicles, including passenger buses, coaches, trucks, covered vans and even private cars, become desperate. Members of law enforcement agencies assigned on country’s important roads and highways to ensure safe journey are failing to control the reckless driving.
The government enforced Road Transport Act (RTA) late last year with harsh punitive provisions for the law break with a view to combating road accidents. Transport workers, however, started a nationwide indefinite strike protesting the law immediately it was put into force.
Apart from the enforcement of RTA, the government, private organisations, socio-cultural organisations, volunteer groups, teachers, students and people from all walks of life are raising voice against rash driving.
But the efforts to ensure safe journey on roads and highways are going in vain as drivers and other transport employees are reluctant to go by laws. Road safety advocates say overtaking of vehicles, lack of awareness among pedestrians and commuters, unskilled drivers, talking over mobile phone while driving and using drugs before driving are other causes of road crashes.
Grabbing of footpaths or absence of footpaths, lapses in traffic management, and lax monitoring of the enforcement of relevant laws are also contributing to road accidents, they say. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, Secretary General of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, told Bangladesh Post, “We’re now armed with a strong road safety law, but the problem is lacklustre monitoring.”
He also said road accidents are increasing mainly because of reckless driving. “The government still can’t ensure that only skilled drivers are at the wheel of vehicles. If it can be ensured, road fatalities will be halved.” Nirapad Sarak Chai Chairman Ilias Kanchan told Bangladesh Post that the authorities concerned should find out the reasons of not stopping road crashes.
He recommends making a balanced speedy road system. "I think the situation can be improved if the government increases investment in training of drivers for safer roads," he added. “Although we’ve made some progress in ensuring safe roads, we have still a long way to go," he said stressing the need for a coherent legislation to reduce road accidents by researching various risk factors.
Kanchan said there are unfit vehicles on the streets of Dhaka while drivers run vehicles recklessly. “To reduce deaths on roads, public transport system must be controlled and existing laws need to be strictly enforced.” Mozammel Haque recommends proper implementation of RTA, installation of CCTV cameras, creation of mass awareness, removal of illegal roadside shops and freeing footpaths, installation of traffic signs on roads, professional training for public transport drivers, maintenance of fitness of vehicles and adoption of a modern system in the country's traffic management for combating road crashes.
