No let-up in road accidents

There has been no respite in deaths on roads, especially on the highways of the country, with the new Road Transport Act yet to be implemented. The new Road Transport Act was passed over a month back.  The act was approved by the President on October 8 this year. The law was passed in parliament on September 19.

By the time road accidents have claimed 300 lives. A PEC (Primary Education Certificate) examinee in Chattogram died on her way to the exam hall when a battery run three-wheeler collided with her rickshaw on Monday. Meanwhile, at least six people were killed and several others injured in separate road accidents in Rangpur and Sirajganj on Sunday. Reckless driving, unhealthy competition among the drivers, lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned and unfit vehicles are mostly responsible for road accidents. Moreover, the tendency among drivers and commuters to violate traffic rules has also contributed to this situation.

Some official directives to reduce road accidents include: keep reserved drivers on long-haul vehicles standby, restricting them to a maximum of five hours driving time at a stretch, training for drivers and helpers, installing service centres or restrooms for drivers at regular intervals on highways, preventing jaywalking, making sure everyone follows traffic signals and fastens seatbelts.
Analyzing police records, the Buet Accident Research Institute found that at least 3,000 road accidents take place in Bangladesh every year killing around 2,700 people and injuring about 2,400.  
These accidents cause economic loss worth around Tk400 billion every year, which amounts to 2-3% of the country's GDP.

Majority of the victims in road accidents are pedestrians, while most accidents involve buses.
The latest data from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) shows there are over 3.5 million registered vehicles in the country, but valid licenses have been issued to only 2.6 million.
The authorities, however, do not have information on how many valid license holders have not renewed their licenses after expiry. Meanwhile, most drivers of heavy vehicles have been found to be using light vehicles licenses, experts said.

Road safety advocates say there are around 1.5 million illegal vehicles plying the roads and along with the registered vehicles, there are roughly over 2.4 million unqualified drivers putting their own lives and the lives of a large number of people at risk on a regular basis.

According to a report by Bangladesh Passengers' Welfare Association published in April 2018, over 77% drivers in Bangladesh do not possess driving licenses. The association also found that at least 87% of public transport drivers in Dhaka drive recklessly and violate traffic laws. The BRTA says there are about 160,000 unfit vehicles in Bangladesh, but the association says the number is more than 300,000.

Road safety advocates say footpaths in many places of the city have been taken over by hawkers and street vendors, forcing commuters to walk on the busy roads at the risk of getting hit by speeding traffic. Another troubling issue is the tendency among public transport drivers to race with one another on the roads, putting both passengers and pedestrians at risk, they added.

 "Pedestrians must use footpaths, but the footpaths must be available for them," said Ilias Kanachan, founder of the road safety advocacy group Nirapad Sharak Chai (We Want Safe Roads). "It is also important that buses pick up and drop off commuters from designated zones instead of random places on roads."