As the country experiences a surge in connectivity, driven by the construction of numerous bridges and highways, the imperative for road safety remains a pressing concern. 

Despite the enactment of the Road Transport Act in 2018, its full implementation has been agonisingly slow, leaving a trail of uncertainty and inadequate protection for road users.

The process of fully implementing the law is so slow that around four years passed before the rules of the Road Transport Act elaborating the procedures of registration, renewal, providing compensations and punishments was enacted almost at the end of 2022.

The deficiency in executing the law to ensure road safety exacts a grim toll on human lives, as accident-related casualties continue to rise annually.

According to data from the Road Safety Foundation, the year 2019 witnessed 4,696 road accidents, claiming the lives of 5,211 individuals. Even in 2020, when vehicle movement was restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, road accidents and fatalities exceeded the prior year, with 4,735 accidents resulting in 5,431 casualties. In 2021, the road accident fatality count surged further, with 6,284 lives lost in 5,371 accidents.

Not implementing the law fully to ensure road safety takes a heavy toll on people’s lives as casualties from accidents have been increasing every year.

According to the Road Safety Foundation, 4,696 road accidents killed 5,211 people in 2019. In the following year, movement of vehicles were restricted due to the Covid-19 pandemic but still the numbers of road accidents and fatalities were higher than the previous year as 4,735 accidents killed 5,431 people.

In 2021, the victims of road accidents increased further with 6,284 people killed in 5,371 accidents.

Then, last year, 6,829 accidents killed 7,713 people, and from January to September this year, 4,227 road accidents killed 4,346 people’.

Regarding the progress in ensuring road safety, ABM Amin Ullah Nuri, secretary of the Road Transport and Highways Division, told the Daily Sun, “The government is working for safe roads. There are laws for ensuring road safety and they are being enforced.

“Roads will become safer if we all obey the laws. We have to develop a social movement regarding safe roads. Only enforcing laws will be pointless if there is no awareness among the people.”

Saidur Rahman, chief executive of the Road Safety Foundation, told the Daily Sun, “The fulfilment of the promise to ensure road safety is not visible. As a result, the country’s roads have not become safe yet. Even though the government tries, a vested quarter blocks its initiatives. Roads are not becoming safe due to those vested groups.”

Reckless driving causes 84% accidents

According to the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet), 85% of the accidents on the country's highways happen due to excessive speed and reckless driving.

Meanwhile, tyre burst, unsafe loading of cargoes, vehicle defect, bad weather, and drunk driving caused 15% of the accidents on the country’s roads.

So, the speed of the car on the highway needs to be controlled to reduce the number of accidents significantly, said the ARI.

For every 100 people killed due to reckless driving on highways, 49 are pedestrians and 51 are drivers and passengers.

Among the accidents in the country, 63% occur on straight highways while 37% at curves on the roads. So, the ARI recommended enough curves on the important highways to reduce accidents.

The United Nations declared the period from 2011 to 2021 as the “Road Safety Decade”. The organisation’s member countries have been able to reduce road accidents by half, but Bangladesh could not do so.

Md Hadiuzzaman, former director of ARI and professor of civil engineering at Buet, told the Daily Sun, “It is sad that the roads have not become safe yet. Road accidents cannot be reduced by developing infrastructures alone. Without decreasing accidents, there will be no safe roads.”

He also said, “Coordinated initiatives should be taken for ensuring road safety. The number of deaths in accidents each year indicates the unsafe condition of the roads. All those involved in safe road management are responsible for not having safe roads yet. The Road Transport Act has been made with the people's money, but the will to enforce the law has declined.”

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity Secretary General Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury told the Daily Sun, “Government is hostage to the transport owners, so the implementation of the laws in this regard is slow. After the movement that shook the country, the major changes that were supposed to come in the road transport sector are not visible at all.

President, PM issues messages for National Road Safety Day

The National Road Safety Day is being observed in the country on Sunday (22 October) in a befitting manner.

This year's theme of the day is “Ain Meney Sorokey Choli, Smart Bangladesh Gori (Let us follow the law on road and build a smart Bangladesh).”

President Mohammed Shahabuddin and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday issued separate messages on the eve of the National Road Safety Day, reported the BSS.

In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said following the footsteps of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the Awami League-led government is working towards the implementation of the three five-year plans, the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and Perspective Plan-2041 for the expansion of uninterrupted and time-saving transportation and goods transportation through the development of safe road networks.

The premier said the government considers the unprecedented development in the road transport system very important alongside strengthening the safe road system.

“To make the road safer, we have taken various initiatives including installing dividers, simplifying turns, upgrading the road to four lanes, constructing rest rooms for drivers on the highway and installing speed controllers,” she said.

“We have formed a task force to bring discipline in the road transport sector, create efficient drivers and control accidents," she added.

The president, in his message, said there is no substitute for a better transport system in building sustainable development and smart Bangladesh.

To that end, the multi-faceted initiative taken by the government to develop an advanced and efficient communication system has opened a new horizon in the transport sector, he added.