Road safety still a distant dream

Shahiduzzaman Khan The much publicised meeting of the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) this week decided to award driving licences to persons who can read, write and recognize signs. Not necessarily, they otherwise need to have formal educational background. Considering the ground reality, the meeting took the decision and concluded that aspiring candidates must pass the driving test. Reports in the media this week said a strong lobby, headed by a minister, was trying to influence the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to award licences to 28,000 drivers without test. But the move has apparently become null and void with the latest decision. The communications ministry ruled out any pressure from influential quarters to issue licences without any driving test. There is no disagreement with the latest decision in the 20th meeting of the NRSC. In fact, the problem lies with the implementation. A good number of decisions were taken up in previous meetings of the NRSC. Its most recommendations could not be implemented as yet. Asked as to why the decisions were not implemented, the communications minister reportedly said that the ministry could take the decisions, but the implementation lies with the relevant ministries. Cooperation from other ministries is a must for successful implementation of the decisions, he added. However, the NRSC meeting failed to decide on anything significant on road safety. The five-hour long marathon meeting discussed issues which were talked about over and over again in the last few years, like why road accidents happen, who the persons are responsible for accidents and what actions should be taken to ensure road safety. But nothing concrete in nature was decided to stop deaths on roads and bring discipline to the sector. The seriousness of the road safety issue was reportedly played down by an influential minister by questioning the accuracy of the fatality figures. Some quarters claimed that the number of accidents had gone down. But in reality, is it the fact? Official estimates say over 3,000 persons a year get killed on roads. The estimate of the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO) is between 12,000 and 20,000. Officially in the last 12 years, nearly 31,000 people have died and 9,000 sustained grievous injures in 50,000 road accidents. The government estimate of deaths on roads relies on the records of autopsy reports on the bodies. Many accidents are not recorded. A total of 173 people died last July alone, according to media reports. On the other hand, the home ministry came under strong criticism for its 'indifference and reluctance' to implement the decisions of the communications ministry. There are three major reasons for accident -- overloading, over-speeding and overtaking. Such practices are supposed to be checked by the law enforcing agencies under the home ministry. The police force on the highways are scheduled to ensure that no unfit vehicles remain on the road, drivers use seatbelts, they do not talk on their phones while driving and carry authentic driving licences. But what they do is known to everybody. They let the unfit vehicles go by taking recourse to all kinds of irregularities; they are reluctant to stop the speeding car drivers. Other tasks that they need to perform are: subjecting the traffic rule violators to payments of fine, freeing roads from illegal occupants, banning battery-operated vehicles, enforcing mandatory wearing of seatbelt, helmets, and strengthening the oversight roles of the BRTA. They seldom perform such tasks that are assigned to them. Their main aim is toll collection from the errant drivers and unfit vehicles. That is what the shipping minister told the NRSC meeting. In fact, none should hold the government responsible for road accidents. But when such accidents occur at regular intervals and when nothing is done to improve road safety, ensure road worthiness of vehicles, and punish drivers who recklessly kill people, then the role of the government does certainly come to the fore. Bangladesh has the highest per capita instances of road accidents in the world, with the highest number of deaths per motorised vehicle on the road. This is truth like daylight. There is no way sidetracking the grave issue. Dilapidated road conditions and rash driving of commercial vehicles are two foremost reasons for fatal accidents. The highways are old and have not increased much in number, length or width but the number of vehicles has been going up around 10 per cent every year. The communications minister claimed he did not get the budgetary allocation to repair the roads. But the finance minister said that timely appropriate steps were not taken. More importantly, supervisory and monitoring work as far as road repair is concerned is almost non-existent, leading to widespread corruption and wastage of resources. The present state of roads is a consequence of long neglect, and the minister just cannot get away by blaming fund shortage. Nonetheless, the need for increased budgetary allocation for operation and maintenance (O&M) can not been relegated to the background in view of the expansion of the road network over the last three decades. The National Road Safety Council and Accident Prevention Cell of the communications ministry remain dysfunctional for years. In July 2009, the government took a strategy to build awareness, train drivers and enforce laws strictly to reduce road accidents but the initiative could not move forward. The RNSC sat only thrice since the incumbent government assumed power although it is supposed to meet once in every three-month period. Creating public awareness about road accidents is impossible unless the government takes the lead. And there is a need to ensure transparency at every level of official activities. In this connection, the media's role is important. The government cannot ignore media presence in its meetings, citing reasons of security and internal affairs. It is just an unfair practice to invite the media people and then send them out without showing some valid ground. Such a practice should not be repeated. szkhan@dhaka.net