Road Crash Victims: Compensation claims will still remain pending

More than two years after the Road Transport Act-2018 was passed in parliament, the government has appointed a chairman and a secretary for the trustee board that is supposed to deal with compensation-related issues after accidents.

Yet, the board cannot function as it is supposed to since the rules for it have not yet been formulated.

Road accidents victims will have to wait until the rules are formulated and approved by the government before they can get damages. They can seek compensation but these will not be processed before the board is fully functional.

Under the Motor Vehicles Ordinance-1983, victims or their family members had the opportunity to seek compensation at the Motor Accident Claim Tribunal for death, injuries, and damage to properties.

But the ordinance was repealed after the act came into force in November last year, narrowing victims' scope for getting compensation. In some cases, victims can now file writs with the High Court to get compensation.

In this situation, the ministry on December 22 issued a circular, giving BRTA's chairman and its secretary additional duty of the chairman and secretary of the trustee board with immediate effect.

Following the unprecedented road safety movement in August 2018, parliament passed the act a month later.

But the government did not make the law functional by issuing a gazette until November last year due to pressure from transport associations that have been demanding changes to some sections of the act.

Now, the law is implemented partially as the government could not formulate the rules.

The road transport and bridges ministry last year sent for vetting "incomplete" rules for the law to the law ministry, which asked for "complete" rules.

The BRTA, following the road ministry's directives, prepared the draft rules and sent them to the ministry in September this year. The ministry is expected to send the draft to the law ministry soon, sources said.

As per the draft, if a person is killed in a road accident, his or her family members will get Tk 5 lakh while an injured person will get Tk 3 lakh.

However, the amount could change as the rules are yet to be finalised, a ministry official said.

TRUSTEE BOARD

As per the new act, the government will create a fund for compensating and treating, if necessary, road crash victims.

The fund would be created with one time or annual "contributions" from motor vehicle owners, transport associations, and the government.

As per the draft rules, an owner of a bus or a truck has to pay Tk 1,000 annually. A car owner has to pay Tk 300 annually while a motorcycle owner has to pay Tk 500 once as their contribution.

The government will form a trustee board to manage the fund and related work, the act says.

"We have requested the ministry to appoint trustee board members to make it functional as none can seek compensation [under the act] now," BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder told The Daily Star yesterday.

He said they will now prepare an organogram and do other work of the board. However, the board will not be able to start its "main work" -- dealing with compensation -- until the rules are finalised, he added.

He said a petition for compensation can now be filed but it will remain pending.

Despite the Covid-19 shutdown for two months, 2,891 people were killed in 3,000 accidents until September, according to the police.

Organisations working for road safety say the numbers are much higher.

Last year, 4,138 lives were lost in 4,147 road accidents, according to police.