With so many tragic deaths occurring in road accidents during this year's Eid-ul Fitr holidays, the people are now in a state of considerable agitation, once again. Such casualties demonstrate that reckless driving is one of the major causes for such a large number of road accidents and consequent fatalities in Bangladesh. Running of the ramshackle vehicles is yet another reason for such mishaps.
But such accidents, numerically quite shocking as these are, do not truly reflect the social tragedy. The media apart, analysts and experts have, time and again, pointed out that stringent enforcement of traffic rules and regulations, and routine examination of fitness certificates and other relevant documents of motorised vehicles and driving licences of the drivers could help prevent the recurrence of such road traffic accidents and fatalities in increasingly growing numbers.
The traffic department of the police does also blame random violations of traffic rules and regulations, unskilled and unlicensed drivers, and flawed vehicles as major causes for such accidents. But reckless driving, especially by bus and truck drivers, continues unabated because there is hardly any firm action against such blatant violations of traffic rules and regulations. Bus and minibus drivers break the traffic law at will both within the periphery of the capital city and on the highways.
Despite repeated public outcry, ensuring even a modicum of road safety on the country's highways presents, as of now, a daunting challenge. As a result, hundreds of people die in road accidents every year. Lack of enforcement of the relevant rules by the authorities and the government's inability to implement the recommendations are, as the experts note, largely responsible for unsafe highways for the passengers and pedestrians. Some 4,000 people in Bangladesh die in road accidents while property worth around Tk.50 billion is damaged annually, according to some estimates. This is again considered a under-estimated figure by different quarters.
The members of the law enforcing agencies, in most cases, have their usual defence while trying to disown any responsibility for such road accidents, the number of which continues to rise. Sometime, they get hold of the errant drivers, but in most cases, they do allegedly let them go free on payment of bribes. What is worse, hardly any meaningful action is taken by the authorities, through traffic fatalities raise public commotion.
As there are no comprehensive law and also no proper enforcement of even the existing one, errant drivers make a bold return to the roads with the same vehicles; employers of unregistered drivers cannot be tried. Under Section 304(B) of the Penal Code, killing a person due to reckless driving is a bailable offence and the highest punishment for it is a three-year jail term or fine or both. Only the accused drivers can be implicated under sections 279, 304 and 304(B) of the Penal Code. But there is no law to try the vehicle owners even though they employ such drivers.
Added to this, there is no legal provision to keep the 'seized' vehicles in police custody until the case is finally resolved, although those should be kept in custody as the evidence. Police officials often claim that it is hard to prove the guilt of drivers, as neither the accused nor the vehicles concerned remain in their custody.
On their part, the transport owners put relentless pressure on the families of the road accident victims to come to an understanding. Persons none other than the ministers and the lawmakers are also alleged to be putting undue pressures on the authorities for providing licences to the drivers without any proper, prior test. Under such circumstances, such tragedies on the roads and highways reoccur.
The rate, in terms of the number of fatalities per 10,000 on-road motor vehicles excluding motorbikes, is very high in Bangladesh (over 50) compared with those in the developed countries. The corresponding fatality rates in the developed countries are only about 2.0 per 10,000 on-road motor vehicles.
While everyone appears to know the cause and culprits behind the road traffic fatalities, there have hardly been any efforts from the authorities to devise a comprehensive plan of action to make the roads and highways reasonably safe, and to bring down the number of accidents and fatalities. As such, the fatalities on the roads are on the rise day-by-day.
The Minister for the Roads and Highways is frequently seen travelling on different roads and making robust assurances to the people at large of providing better services. He used to put emphasis on the need for extending the existing roads to four and six lanes. But extension of the highways to four or six lanes is ultimately not the only solution. Slowing of speeds every now and then, rampant accidents due to frontal collision of vehicles from the opposite direction, overtaking, rash driving and absence of proper monitoring for road safety are the real issues that deserve attention.
It is high time for the country's transport planners to examine the concept of dedicated roads in line with the standards that are followed by the developed countries. Under such an arrangement, some specific kinds of vehicles are allowed to use such roads for long journeys.
On both sides of the dedicated roads, there are side-roads for the shops and villages around to use. Whenever anybody needs to cross over, he can use flyovers or foot over-bridge, as the case may be. And these are built at certain intervals, on both sides of the roads. The experiences of the developed countries can provide some useful inputs to the local planners to help build dedicated roads across the country.
It is relevant to note here that the most worrisome aspect in this country is that there is a lack of accountability everywhere. The drivers use to believe they can get away with road traffic fatalities. On their part, the law enforcers seldom show the desired urgency to enforce the rules and regulations, and penalise the violators.
All said and done, putting a comprehensive system of accountability in place is imperative for reducing the number of fatal road accidents. An effective plan of action needs to be devised to ensure safe journey on the roads and highways. In the process, not only the reckless drivers should face the music for their actions but also the law enforcers should be prosecuted for their alleged inactions on the roads. szkhanfe@gmail.com
Devising effective ways for ensuring safe highways
Shahiduzzaman Khan | Published: July 23, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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