The road safety panel led by former Minister of Shipping Shajahan Khan is preparing to submit a report with 111 recommendations on how to restore order to the roads, reports bdnews24.com.
Among the proposals in the draft is the creation of a 'road safety authority' under the supervision of the prime minister.
"Political commitment is the most necessary element in reducing the risk of road crashes and the creation of discipline on the roads," the report said.
Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation Acting President Shajahan Khan told the online news agency the list of recommendations would be submitted to the relevant ministry by April 04.
Road safety issues came to the fore last July when the deaths of two college students in Dhaka led to a mass protest movement that highlighted the many deaths in road accidents across the country.
Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader had described road safety as the government's 'biggest concern' at the time. The cabinet, led by the head of the government, issued several orders on road safety amidst the protests.
As a continuation of those efforts, a committee on road safety was formed on February 27 with representatives from transport owners, workers, police, researchers and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.
Police have conducted several Traffic Week events and other campaigns to raise awareness, but the death toll from road accidents has only continued to climb.
Students took to the streets again on March 19 at Dhaka's Pragati Sharani after a university student was run over and killed by a bus.
The draft of recommendations prepared by Shajahan Khan's committee stresses greater focus on road safety, development of road infrastructure, taking necessary steps to prevent accidents, creating greater road safety awareness among the population, and training and raising awareness amongst drivers among others.
Most of the 111 recommendations have previously been made by other panels. The report has also addressed some of the road safety demands of the protesting students.
The high-level committee states that one of the major challenges in formulating recommendations on road safety is the limited time to implement them. The recommendations have thus been broken down into four phases in the report.
The recommendations that can be implemented immediately should be completed by this December, the short term plans by 2021 and the long term plans by 2024, the report said. Another group of recommendations will be ongoing.
The report says the plan was formed in consideration of the country's continued development, the sincere work of all agencies and the government's ensuring all necessary facilities.
The report stresses the importance of political commitment because a failure to fulfil these requirements will mean additional time is necessary to implement the recommendations.
Asked why these recommendations would be implemented when other similar proposals had failed in the past, Shajahan Khan said:
"There have been such recommendations before. The responsibility for implementing them had been on the ministry, the BRTA or the owners and workers associations."
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