The much-vaunted digital licensing system of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) was apparently yielding little effect as the licences were being left in wrong hands in many cases, sources said.
Awarding genuine driving licences to unskilled people without following the proper selection procedure was leading to the inept and rash driving on streets, according to the sources.
After the launch of the digital licensing system, police said hardly any driver with a fake driving licence was found on the streets.
But experts said the digital licensing failed to ensure drivers with proper driving skills and knowledge about road safety and traffic rules. They blamed it on the lack of the procedure that should be followed to test their skills before selecting them for the licences.
BRTA officials said they had already completed issuance of digital licences to those who used to drive on streets before introduction of the digital licensing system.
"Only those did not get digital licences, the renewal time of whose licences did not end," said one official.
He, however, admitted that genuine licences had been issued to controversial non-listed drivers, for whom a minister was strongly lobbying to withdraw the provision of minimum class-VIII education level for obtaining the driving permission.
Unlike in the West and many countries in the developing world, a driver here does not have to overcome ramp-and-barrack tests to prove his driving skill and face extreme conditions. It is found that 'proxy' helps many of them pass written tests.
In the absence of effective tests, experts said there were still drivers on the streets with poor knowledge about traffic rules. This lacking resulted in frequent road accidents across the country-some of them turning so macabre.
On average, 1,800 people die in road accidents every year. The number of injuries, including fatal ones, is multiple. Mostly reckless driving is held responsible for such agonies.
The demand for drivers is also high now thanks to gaggles of new vehicles hitting the roads and highways. The total number also doubled from 1.0 million in 2010 to 2.0 million in 2014.
The BRTA official said due to the lack of manpower and space the standard of driving test could not be improved in the country.
He said after introduction of the digital licence, BRTA had been under pressure from fresh applicants for whom it is mandatory to sit for driving tests.
According to an official data, BRTA takes on an average a two-minute driving test due to an increase in the number of driving-licence applicants. The two main driving-test grounds of the BRTA can accommodate only 150 persons a day. The driving test is taken only three days a week with low-skilled instructors.
The record shows that the Ekuroa driving-test centre has taken driving tests for nearly 1,300 learners in six days from 9 am to 5 pm every day.
A source said due to the faulty system and low capacity of the BRTA centre, the date for the driving test of a learner is now set three months after the application is dropped. Still allegations are there that some face the written tests by proxy. Sources said a section of officials and employees did not want to change the system as it fetches them extras.
A senior BTRA official, however, said with limited resources and testing infrastructure it was not possible to improve the driving-test system.
Dr Shamsul Haq of Civil Engineering Department of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said, "Untrained drivers are exacting a heavy toll on the economy, as they aggravate traffic jams, cause deaths on roads and premature retirement of vehicles."
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