Motorised rickshaws: New threat to road safety

To worsen the already bleak road safety condition in the capital, a new threat has arrived recently in the form of the 'unstoppable' motorised rickshaws, also known as battery-driven rickshaws. Pulling a manual rickshaw is undoubtedly a tiring job. Motorised rickshaws have made the lives of the rickshaw pullers much easier and convenient as now they do not have to put much effort to drive the rickshaw. In addition, their average speed has also increased significantly which is why they can now run more trips than before and earn more.
From a passenger's perspective, motorised rickshaws are more convenient than the manual rickshaws as due to the increased speed they can get to their destinations quicker and the rickshaw pullers also charge a little less as they have to put less effort and can run more trips. Therefore, it may seem that motorised rickshaw is a win-win situation for the society as both the rickshaw pullers and passengers benefit from it. However, the issue with the motor rickshaw is that it poses a great threat to road safety because of its low safety standard. Its poor braking mechanism often makes it unstoppable, and due to its structure which may not be suitable for high speed and also because of the lack of experience and skill of the puller of controlling a faster vehicle compared to the slow moving manual rickshaw, it is indeed an unsafe mode of transport.
These rickshaws can accelerate much quicker and travel almost as fast as a motorbike. When these rickshaws gain speed and momentum, the rickshaw pullers have hardly any control over their rickshaws. Due to the poor braking system, instead of braking to prevent hitting the vehicle in front, the rickshaw pullers change lanes frequently often without checking if it is safe to change lanes resulting in collision with other vehicles.
These rickshaws accelerate and travel much quicker than the manual rickshaws, which is why oftentimes they tend to speed up, driving recklessly and aggressively putting themselves, their passengers and other road users at a great risk.
The structure and design of the rickshaws were originally built to travel at a low speed. The current structure may not be suitable to withstand the force of impact at a high speed in the event of an accident. Furthermore, the design of the rickshaw makes the center of gravity of the rickshaw too high rendering it unstable and prone to roll over when traveling at speeds in access of 35km/hr.
Drivers of motorized vehicles in our country require driving licences. Since, battery rickshaws should fall into the category of motorised vehicles, battery rickshaw pullers should also require driving licences, which they currently do not require.
To ensure safety of the rickshaw pullers, its passengers and other road users, the braking system of the motor rickshaws should be changed to hydraulic brakes, driving licences for the rickshaw pullers should be made mandatory and most importantly the structure should be modified to ensure that it does not roll over and is able to withstand the force of impact at high speed in the event of an accident so that the passengers face minimal impact and does not get thrown over.
The writer is a transport engineer. ridwanq@gmail.com