Scourge of the road
There was nothing wrong with how the problem was approached: First, the government banned three-wheelers on 22 major highways in August 2015 to prevent accidents. Then, in January 2017, the High Court reinforced that diktat by ordering a ban on such vehicles on all major highways of Bangladesh. But the problem was with the enforcement of that prohibition. The ban has been followed more in its breach than its execution. The situation, according to a report by this daily, has now turned so bad that the number of road accidents involving three-wheelers tripled last year compared to 2020, according to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
The causative factors have been well-identified, corrective measures have been recognised, and orders have gone out from time to time to the relevant people. Yet, we see a continued rise in the number of traffic accidents, because all the honest intentions of the administration flounder in the face of either lack of capability to implement the relevant rules and regulations or unwillingness to do so.
The question is: Why? There can be nothing more disheartening, and indeed frustrating, than to hear the minister for road transport and bridges express his helplessness—and many times, too—in enforcing the ban on three-wheelers. One need not be reminded that non-implementation of the orders of the court amounts to violation of its order.
The villain of the piece, according to the minister, are the local representatives who create obstructions in the way of implementing government orders. But imposing the authority of the government in this regard is literally a matter of life and death. Reportedly, along with the number of road accidents involving three-wheelers, the number of these vehicles has also given a quantum jump in that time.
But it is not only the authorised three-wheelers that compound the problem. The situation has been exacerbated by the appearance of contraptions of various shapes and sizes, powered by various devices that should not be seen anywhere, let alone on the roads and major highways. Are we to believe that the law of the land should be subjugated to the might of the local representatives—more so when that law has the backing of a court order?
Given the current state of road safety, one can be forgiven for questioning the seriousness of the government in addressing this issue. The sluggishness in implementing the so-called Road Transport Act is an index of the government's sincerity in this regard, as well as an indication of its helplessness against the might of the transport owners and operators who run the sector. The situation brooks no laxity. The laws and regulations should be implemented strictly and impartially. It is a question of people's lives.
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