‘We made no change to Road Transport Act’
Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary Nazrul Islam yesterday said the government will start implementation of Road Transport Act 2018 from next month, without making “any change” as it has pledged to ensure road safety.
“The new road transport act is going to be implemented from November 1. The act has been kept as it was passed in the parliament; we didn’t even change punctuation marks,” said Nazrul.
The government is committed to ensure safe roads for all. It is working hard and has already taken several initiatives to do so, he said at a roundtable.
Nirapad Sarak Chai (Nischa), a non-government organisation campaigning for road safety, in association with Global Alliance of NGOs for Road Safety, held the discussion titled “Round the World Roundtable” at Jatiya Press Club in the capital.
Speaking as chief guest at the event, Nazrul said the implementation of the act will not be effective unless people abide by it, because laws cannot be enforced with police action alone.
The secretary also said the government has a plan to provide training to about 4 lakh drivers, and the primary process will start soon.
Appreciating the government’s move, Nischa Chairman Ilias Kanchan said there is no alternative to implementing the road transport act to ensure road safety, which is a long-time public demand.
“Training drivers properly is the key to reduce accidents… We want to train all drivers within 2025. We are working with the government in this regard,” said Ilias.
Recently, there was a confusion over amendment to the road transport act, which was passed by the government in September last year following student protests for safe roads.
Since then, transport workers and owners protested some provisions of the act, and tried to convince authorities to make an amendment.
Meanwhile, frustration grew among the road safety campaigners as the act was yet to be implemented.
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