The roads and highways in the country have turned into almost a death trap. According to the government census, over 5,000 people were killed in road accident last year, in addition many people got handicapped. In last one era, the infrastructural development was accomplished; however there seems to be no discipline in road transport system of the country.
The plying of 3 wheelers, Nasimons, Karimons, CNGs and battery-run autorickshaws hasn’t been stopped in 22 highways despite the ban announced by the High Court. These small vehicles come in front of the passengers-loaded buses all of a sudden from opposite direction. According to the experts, the removal of risky vehicles hasn’t been made possible due to political reasons and the number of road accidents isn’t decreeing as the roads and highways were turned into death traps.
Political activists and police are regularly collecting fees from these small vehicles plying on the highway. These dangerous vehicles which have been declared illegal are being legalized by means of extortion. That is why these vehicles couldn’t be removed from the road in any way.
The Supreme Court of the country has ordered to stop the operation of battery operated three-wheeler easybikes on the highways. But ignoring this order, easybikes are running on the highways freely. To prevent road accidents, the road transport and highways department has decided the speed on which these types of vehicles will run on any road in the country. This guideline will play an important role in preventing road crashes and premature deaths, said Road Safety Coalition Bangladesh. At the same time, the organization believes that the proper implementation of this guideline will play a significant role in reducing the number of death and injured in road accidents by half within 2030.
According to the data of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), 1, 367 people were killed and 1, 778 injured in 1, 464 road accidents in three months from January to March this year. As such, on an average, about 15 people died on the roads every day. And this time, in the 14 days before and after Eid-ul-Fitr, at least 274 people were died in 354 road accidents. In other words, on an average, more than 19 people have been killed on the road during the Eid journey. In the last 15 years, thousands of crores of Tk have been invested in the road transport sector for promotion of road safety, service lanes have been constructed at a cost of thousands of crores of Tk on various roads to make the highway safer. But these accords haven’t been proved to be fruitful any way. Three-wheelers, easybikes run side by side with long-distance buses on highways like the Dhaka-Chittagong highway that do not have service lanes. Although running of unauthorized vehicles was identified as one of the causes of accidents, due to lack of political will, the government is not interested in stopping vehicles like three-wheelers, Nasimon, Karimon, Bhatvati on the roads. It was discussed in the meeting of the parliamentary standing committee related to the Ministry of Road Transport held on July 30 last year.
The government has repeatedly taken initiatives in this regard. The High Court directive to remove these slow small vehicles from the highways is not being implemented. At least 30 percent of all highway accidents are caused by these small vehicles. In 2018, the unprecedented movement of students for safe roads led to the law increasing the penalties for road safety. However, in the last five years, the Road Transport Act has not been implemented. In addition, due to the pressure of transport owners and workers, the amount of penalties and fines in that law has recently been reduced. A high power committee has submitted 111 recommendations to prevent accidents. A task force has been formed headed by the Home Minister to implement the recommendations. Earlier, 17-point instructions were given from the Prime Minister's office. The Prime Minister himself gave six-point instructions. But nothing is being implemented properly on the roads. Accidents are also not prevented. Speedometers, CC cameras have been installed on highways for road safety. Highway Police has been working on the highway since 2005. Enforcement of traffic laws on highways, ensuring safe roads, taking action against illegal vehicles are their duties. There are about 80 police stations and outposts across the country under this force of 2,800 members. Despite that, no order is returning on the road.
The professor of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and transportation expert Samsul Haque said, “It is not possible to reduce accidents by developing infrastructure alone. Statistics say so. If slow vehicles ply on fast roads, the speed chaos created in this way increases road accidents. Many times we see cars losing control and falling into ditches or trucks are getting overturned. The main reason for this is slow traffic on expressways. On investigation, it can be seen that while trying to save an easy bike or a CNG-powered auto-rickshaw in front of them, the vehicles lost control and many people lost their lives.”
(The report was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on April May 18 and rewritten in English by Lutful Hoque Khan)
