Owners’ greed key reason for road crashes

Bangladesh Road Transport Workers’ Federation yesterday cited an unhealthy competition among transport owners for profit as a major reason behind road accidents.

Terming road transport the “most neglected” sector in the country, the federation said blaming only drivers for road accidents would not solve this problem.

It also came up with a 16-point proposal, including state initiative to establish driving schools to produce skilled drivers and instructors, aiming at curbing crashes.

The federation, an umbrella organisation for at least 235 transport worker unions across the country, placed the proposals at a view-exchange meeting it organised at the Jatiya Press Club in Dhaka.

The country saw two major student agitations for safe road in the last nine months over death of students in road crashes in the capital. A rise in road accidents is often blamed on errant drivers and owners.

In the key note speech, federation General Secretary Osman Ali said transport workers are the most neglected people in the society because they don’t have appointment letters, identity cards, salary structure or pension benefits. They are also not entitled to fixed working hours or rest.

“It seems no section of Labour Law is applicable for transport workers,” he said, adding they are not enjoying their rights, but they are held solely responsible for accidents.

Osman Ali said road transport is supposed to be a “service sector”, but it has been made one of the main sectors of profit making.

“People are investing [here] to gain more profit resulting in an unhealthy competition,” he said.

“Workers are forced to take part in the competition among owners for profit to save their jobs, which ultimately increases the risk of accidents.”

The transport leader said family needs of a driver, lack of recognition and dignity and uncertainty over job make him reckless. In many cases, a driver fails to understand that his lack of alertness can cause a fatal accident.

The drivers remain always anxious because of trip-based operation of buses, deadline to reach destination, extortion on the road, harassment by police, excessive workload, rude behaviour of passengers and uncertainty over job.

“If one drives a bus or truck for 10 to 15 hours, how can he keep his concentration? Is it possible to ensure safe road without paying attention to the matter and solely blaming the drivers?”

Osman Ali said drivers, workers, owners and the administration are involved in the transport sector, and safe road is not possible only by punishing drivers.

“Road accident is an outcome of overall weakness [of the sector]; therefore, a combined effort is needed to curb road accidents,” he added.

Ruling party lawmaker Shajahan Khan, the executive president of the federation, said they have submitted 111-point recommendation to the prime minister to curb road accidents and bring discipline in the road transport sector.

However, those recommendations will not work if they are not implemented properly, said Shajahan, also a former shipping minister.

He mentioned that he had urged the prime minister to form an authority under her office to implement those.

Their other recommendations include arranging regular training for drivers and giving subsidy for this, checking documents of vehicles and drivers, examining mental condition of a driver before any journey, keeping reserved drivers for long-route vehicles and restricting them to a maximum of five-hour driving time at a stretch.

JSD lawmaker Shirin Akhter, Superintendent of Highway Police Safiqur Rahman, labour leaders Rajekuzzaman Ratan and Chowdhury Ashiqul Alam and cultural personality Rokeya Prachi, also spoke at the programme, arranged to find ways to check road accidents.

Contacted, Mahbubur Rahman, vice president of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association, claimed operations of only 20 percent buses in Dhaka city are “trip-based”.

He said transport workers, not owners, work for profit and drive recklessly to make as many trips as possible a day.

In one sense, transport owners are held “hostage” by workers due to huge shortage of drivers. In many cases, drivers have to work more than eight hours a day as there are no reserved drivers, he added.