# Illegal three-wheelers have not been stopped even after imposing law
# 39 percent of legal vehicles are running without certificates
# The type of accident is increasing, the number of deaths is also increasing
Regular mobile courts will be conducted in coordination with the district administration and police to bring discipline on roads and highways
- Nur Mohammad Mazumder, Chairman, BRTA
Earlier, the law was implemented jointly, the highway police will be more strict in coordination with BRTA
- Shahabuddin Khan, Chief, Highway Police
Students of the country took to the streets demanding safe roads in 2018. In the face of intense movement, the government hurriedly enacted the Road Transport Act. However, the law is still under revise and initiatives have been taken to amend the punishment clause.
Earlier in August 2015, the High Court banned the plying of all types of three-wheelers including Nasimon, Karimon, Bhatavati and Easybike on the highway. At the same time, the administration was instructed to take measures to stop the movement of these vehicles. Then almost nine years passed, but it has not been possible to stop it yet, discipline has not returned to the streets.
In 2019, the High Court ordered to make dope test compulsory for drivers. It's also not being done properly. Drivers are getting certificates through brokers without testing. Infrastructure development has been much more than preventing these irregularities and chaos which is not working to prevent accidents. That is why the banned vehicles are not moving from the road, the accidents are not decreasing, where the death toll in major accidents is increasing gradually.
Experts said that despite the huge expenditure on infrastructure development, ensuring the fitness of vehicles and driver's licenses, stopping reckless driving and taking drugs by workers, using safety equipment, removing road defects, stopping illegal traffic movement – these have not been ensured at all. As a result, accidents did not decrease. Currently, more than 600,000 vehicles are plying on roads across the country without fitness.
The issue of lack of discipline on the road has come under renewed discussion after two major accidents on two consecutive days. At least 14 people were killed when a speeding truck hit three easy-bikes, a car and a small truck at the toll plaza of Gabkhan Bridge in Jhalakathi on last Wednesday noon. But Easybike is prohibited on the highway.
A day earlier, 15 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a passenger truck in Faridpur. The bus did not have a route permit, updated fitness certificate and tax token. The victims were passengers of small trucks. However, the law prohibits transporting passengers in trucks.
Two people, including singer Pagol Hasan, were killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a CNG-run auto-rickshaw on the Surma Bridge on Sylhet-Sunamganj highway yesterday. But there is a High Court directive that these CNG-run vehicles will not be able to get on the highway.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), there are around 60 lakh vehicles across the country. Of these, 44 lakh are motorcycles, which do not require any fitness certificate. Of the remaining 16 lakh vehicles, 6 lakh 18 thousand vehicles do not have updated fitness certificates. In other words, about 39 percent of the vehicles that are compulsory to take fitness certificates are moving illegally without this certificate. This is affecting the roads and highways. Deaths in accidents are also increasing. According to private accounts, where the death toll in road accidents is high, the official count is low. Although there is a discrepancy in the calculations, the number of deaths is increasing at the end of the day.
According to BRTA, 4,138 people died in road accidents in the country in 2019. In 2023, it increased to 5,024. According to the Road Safety Foundation, 5,211 people died in road accidents in 2019. Last year, the death toll rose to 6,524.
BRTA Chairman Nur Mohammad Majumder said mobile courts will be conducted every day to prevent road accidents and strengthen discipline on roads. He said that emphasis has been laid on conducting regular mobile courts in coordination with the district administration and police to prevent illegal Nasimon-Karimon, three-wheelers, unfit motor vehicles and motorcycles without driving license on roads and highways.
Analysing the data of police, Road Safety Foundation and Jatri Kalyan Samity on road accidents in the last five years, it has been found that motorcycles and three-wheelers like Nasimon, Karimon, auto-rickshaw are at the top of the number of casualties in road accidents. In 2011, battery-operated auto-rickshaws and shallow engine-driven Nashimon-Karimon were banned on roads and highways across the country. There is no implementation on the highway.
Highway Police Chief Additional IGP Shahabuddin Khan told The Daily Post that action is being taken against those vehicles who violate the rules on the highway or pick up passengers in goods vehicles on unsafe risky journeys. Then action is being taken against unfit vehicles. Earlier, we conducted joint drives with the help of BRTA and district magistrates. Laws are being enforced against irregularities on the highway.
Regarding BRTA's letter, he said, now work will be done in coordination with BRTA.
ZH
