Little progress in bringing discipline on our roads

As we observed the National Road Safety Day yesterday, with the government and various non-government organisations holding many programmes to mark the day, we cannot but feel disappointed at the slow progress of the government agencies concerned to make our roads safe. We are worried to learn that the number of deaths and injuries from road crashes has increased alarmingly, with the directives given by the government and the High Court mostly remaining unimplemented.

According to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet, at least 3,488 people were killed and 5,863 others injured in 3,131 road crashes across the country till October 18 this year. If adequate measures are not taken and the directives by the government are not followed by the agencies concerned, it will be impossible to cut down the number of road accidents by 50 percent by next year, as per the target of one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

In order to ensure safe roads for all, the main reasons of road crashes—the high number of unfit and small vehicles, unlicensed and underage drivers—need to be addressed. According to a report by Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), around 4.79 lakh vehicles are running on the roads without valid fitness certificates. Although there was a HC directive to the owners to collect valid fitness certificates for their vehicles by August 1, very few of the owners complied with the directive. Also, it is of utmost importance that the Road Transport Act, which was passed in the parliament in September last year, comes into effect immediately. Moreover, if extortion in our transport sector cannot be curbed, traffic rules will continue to be blatantly flouted.

However, it is not only the government's responsibility to bring order on our roads; people also must abide by the traffic rules. This requires intensive public education through all kinds of media and awareness campaigns.  We hope the government will not bow down to the pressure created by the transport owners and workers to amend the law and immediately make the Road Safety Act effective. At the same time, unfit vehicles should be taken off the roads without any delay. Moreover, BRTA should improve the public bus services and bring down the number of small vehicles, which would not only reduce the number of road crashes but also reduce traffic jams on the roads significantly.