Road safety steps in hibernation

Three government bodies tasked with ensuring road safety have been sitting on their decisions on crucial issues including the removal of unfit vehicles and illegal structures from highways and roads.

Their activities have largely been limited to discussions on road safety issues.

Not much has been done to check overloading of vehicles, punish drivers for using fake licences or reckless driving, and stop plying of non-motorised vehicles on highways.

Headed by Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, the three bodies -- National Road Safety Council (NRSC), Road Transport Advisory Council and Cabinet Committee on Road Safety -- include government officials, law enforcers, experts and rights activists.

But they have failed to achieve desired results as most of their decisions and recommendations remain unimplemented, according to officials, experts and road safety activists.

The councils and committee have not even held meetings on a regular basis.

The NRSC didn't sit in more than two years, though the council is supposed to hold a meeting every three months.

The Cabinet Committee on Road Safety, set up last year, sat the last time in February and the Road Transport Advisory Council in April, said sources at the road transport and bridges ministry.

Since its inception in 1995, the NRSC has formulated six road safety action plans between 1997 and 2011. In the latest plan, it has identified nine sectors that are to be improved for ensuring road safety.

They include road engineering, traffic legislation, traffic law enforcement, driver training and tests, vehicle safety, education and publicity, and medical services.

The NRSC also drew up a detailed plan and course of action, and specified responsibilities of different government bodies. But none of those have been implemented.

In many cases, small initiatives were taken to implement some of the council's decisions. But those have not made it to the final stage, said Hasib Mohammed Ahsan, former director of Accident Research Institute at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.

NRSC member and film star Ilias Kanchan, told The Daily Star, "We took many good decisions. But those were not implemented due to lack of sincerity of implementing agencies, and bureaucratic tangles."

Requesting anonymity, a top leader of Bangladesh Sarak Paribahan Samity said these committees hold discussions and make some decisions, none of which are implemented.

Contacted, Roads Division Secretary MAN Siddique, however, said, "We are working sincerely to ensure road safety. The number of deaths in road accidents dropped by around 50 percent last year compared to that in 2008. It is the outcome of our coordinated efforts."

"We are committed to reducing by half the present rate of road accident fatality by 2021."

Hasib said the decisions and plans on road safety remain largely unimplemented for lack of accountability of the government agencies concerned.

"In the past, we made several recommendations for road safety. The policymakers took the proposals into consideration. But the implementing agencies did not complete the tasks," he added.

Around 3,000 people are killed in road accidents across the country every year, according to police records.

But the World Bank puts the figure at 12,000 and the World Health Organisation at 18,000, according to a 2011 report of the Buet's research institute.

Meanwhile, Ilias Kanchan, also chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, called for formation of a high-powered committee headed by the prime minister for ensuring road safety in the country.

The committee would coordinate the activities of the ministries concerned, Ilias said at a rally at the Central Shaheed Minar after the citizens' platform brought out a procession from Kakrail intersection around 11:00am.

Nirapad Sarak Chai, which has been campaigning for road safety over the last two decades, demanded that the government recognise October 22 as the National Road Safety Day.

Obaidul Quader, who was present on the occasion, told reporters later that his ministry has identified 144 accident-prone spots across the country and started fixing those.