Roads to be kept off-limit to unfit drivers

Is it the fitness of the drivers or the fitness of the vehicles that comes first to contain road accidents? There is no straight and simple answer to this question because one cannot be prioritised over the other. Obviously, both are integral to maintaining road safety and protecting lives of people on city roads or highways. So long, it was the unfit vehicles that figured as the number one cause for road accidents in this country. The fitness of drivers came as a distant second and not much attention was given to it. But lately it has emerged from none other than the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the country's transport regulatory body, that a majority of professional drivers drawn from random sampling take the wheel on city streets and long routes with serious health complications, including high blood pressure, diabetes, blurred vision and issues related to smoking. What is truly alarming is that 50 to 70 per cent of drivers were found to suffer from eyesight problems.
The BRTA identified these health problems during recent primary health check-ups of professional drivers at various bus terminals and BRTA training centres. At a press conference ahead of the National Road Safety Day on October 22, BRTA Chairman shared the information with journalists. While the BRTA chief seemed upbeat about his organisation's efforts to ensure vehicle fitness, nothing was mentioned to address the health issues of drivers through conducting regular health checkups. Checking the fitness of drivers, according to observers, at least on a two-yearly basis should have been a necessity along with checking the fitness of vehicles. Heath check can be done through designated hospitals and clinics.
With more and more roads and highways coming up in the country and the number of vehicles increasing significantly, accidents and fatalities caused by road crashes have become quite frightening for passengers. Attributing the accidents and fatalities, to a great extent, to unfit health condition of drivers as well as their low level of education or even illiteracy is unlikely to be misplaced. While it is also true that unfit vehicles and road conditions also largely account for road crashes.
The Road Safety Foundation identified some major reasons behind road accidents, including faulty vehicles, unskilled and unfit drivers, speeding, irregular and long working hours, poor traffic management, and extortion in the transport sector. It also made some recommendations, including proper implementation of the Road Transport Act 2018, fixing working hours for drivers, increasing the capacity of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), and halting operation of slow-moving vehicles on highways. Understandably, besides health issues, long working hours leading to distraction and fatigue are also responsible for unfortunate road crashes.
Now that the health issues of the drivers, particularly involving impaired vision, have been publicly shared by the BRTA, it is a high priority that the organisation chalk out a programme on how to ensure that roads are kept off limit to unfit drivers.