Road accidents: Killing on the highways continues unabated

After 15 people were killed on 16 April in Faridpur when a bus and a small truck collided, it was learnt that the bus had no fitness certificate. The truck was carrying passengers illegally. The road was riddled with ruts and potholes. The district administration inquiry committee later said that the accident was caused by excessive speed, the driver's drowsiness and an easy-bike in front of the bus.

It is the responsibility of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) to check whether the bus had fitness or not. It is the responsibility of the highway police to prevent trucks from picking up passengers, speeding and to prevent three-wheelers on the highways.

It is the responsibility of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) to keep the roads free of ruts and potholes. And it is the responsibility of the vehicle owners to ensure that the drivers got sufficient rest.

It was not just in Faridpur, but in Rangunia, Chattogram too, when two students of Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET) were hit and killed by a bus, it was later learnt that the bus had not fitness and was 43 years old. Five days before that on 17 April in Jhalakathi, 14 people were killed when hit by a truck carrying a load of cement. The driver, it was later found, had no licence to drive a heavy vehicle.

Reviewing the three accidents that took place in a span of seven days, former director of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)'s Accident Research Institute, Md Hadiuzzaman, told Prothom Alo that it is time to reconsider whether these can be called accidents. By terming these as accidents, the liability is being placed on fatalistic or natural mishaps. But there were all elements to lead to an accident. One may consider whether these can be called killings due to negligence.

He said, those who are responsible for this negligence must be brought to trial. If not, these irregularities and this negligence will simply continue.

Every year over 5000 people die on the roads in Bangladesh. Even more are injured. But there are no strong initiatives to restore order in the highways. Occasionally a mobile court jumps into action and fines are imposed, but no planned and concerted initiative is put in place.

After three major accidents and the death of many over the Eid-ul Fitr holidays, BRTA is back to its perfunctory drives. It says that even yesterday, Thursday, 406 cases were filed in 8 divisions around the country and fines totalling Tk 785,000 were imposed. Nine cars were consigned to dumping.

Speaking to Prothom Alo yesterday, Thursday, secretary of the road transport ministry ABM Amin Ullah Nuri said speed is a major cause behind accidents now. Even yesterday a meeting was held to draw up a policy regarding speed. Speed limits will be imposed in cities, highways and rural roads too. Then accidents will decrease.

Speaking about vehicles without fitness and drivers without licences, as well as illegal vehicles on the streets, the roads secretary said that a mobile court is operating in 64 districts and this will continue. Awareness mobilisation programmes will also be taken up.

Experts feel that running mobile courts for a few days will not resolve the problem. Short-term, mid-term and long-term planning was required, but no efforts were being made to that end.

There are two types of statistics - officials and unofficial - regarding deaths and injuries in road accidents. Both state that death on the roads is on the increase.

BRTA provides the official figures. According to them, in 2023 a total of 5,024 people died on the roads and 7,495 were injured. According to the non-government organisation Road Safety Foundation, the number of such deaths in 2023 stood at 6,524. And 11,407 were injured.

According to BRTA, 320 people died during Eid-ul Fitr travels this year (4-18 April), which was around 19 per cent higher than last year. The Road Safety Foundation says that 367 died in Eid travels (4-20 April) this year. Last year deaths during Eid travels totalled 285.

BRTA records state that over 50 types of vehicles -- legal, illegal, motorised, non-motorised -- move on the roads and highways in the country. BUET's road accident research institute found at least 47 types of vehicles to be involved the accidents that occurred in 2023. Their analysis shows that motorcycles were involved in around 26 per cent of the accidents. This was 17 per cent in the cases of trucks, 16 per cent for buses, 7 per cent for auto-rickshaws and around 8 per cent for pick-ups and covered vans.

Experts say that the major reasons behind road accidents have been highlighted in various research and studies. The government too takes various steps at various times in this regard. But there is more interest in infrastructure construction and such projects rather than management initiatives.

For instance, there is need for integrated and regular drives to bring a halt to unfit and dilapidated vehicles and the driving of vehicles without licences. No extra effort is being made to this end. Vehicles with no fitness are plying the capital's streets openly. The drivers don't have proper licences.

On 19 April a reckless bus broke through the security cordon on Airport Road in the capital, killing an engineer. Later RAB arrested the driver and said that he did not have a heavy vehicle driving licence.

According to the labour law, a driver can drive at a stretch for a maximum of five hours and, over an entire day, for eight hours at the most. It is the responsibility of the vehicle owners to ensure the drivers' work hours and adequate rest. But that does not happen. And so the drivers are drowsy, exhausted and cause accidents.

At a cabinet meeting in June 2018, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina issued instructions to ensure that the work hours of drivers was maintained and that rest facilities were constructed for them. The roads division began constructing four rest facilities and the work is still underway. But no effective measures have been taken to enforce the owners to ensure adequate rest for the drivers.

There are a bit over 200,000 professional heavy vehicle drivers in the country, but there are over 300,000 registered buses, trucks, covered vans, lorries, tankers and such heavy vehicles. That indicates a shortfall in drivers skilled in driving heavy vehicles.

Transport owners and drivers say that if work hours are followed, then each truck or bus will require three drivers. Due to the shortage, inexpert drivers with no licences and their helpers are driving the vehicles.

When it comes to keeping the roads safe, there are also questions concerning the role of the transport owner and worker associations. The associations are headed by leaders of the ruling party or alliance. For instance, the Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association controls the transport sector of the entire country. Its president is former Jatiya Party leader Mashiur Rahman Ranga and its secretary general is Dhaka city south Awami League vice president Khandakar Enayet Ullah.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Khandakar Enayet Ullah said, "Blaming us won't reduce the accidents. If BRTA and the law enforcement agencies take action against illegal vehicles and unlicenced drivers, we will extend our cooperation."

He said, in 2019 a 111-point recommendation was drawn up under Shahjahan Khan's leadership. Many meetings were held in this connection, but the government has taken no effective measures to put this into effect.

Shahjahan Khan is the president of the apex body for transport workers in the country, Bangladesh Road Transport Workers Federation and presidium member of Awami League.

The influential leaders of the owner and worker associations are on various policy-making committees of BRTA and other regulatory agencies. It is alleged that the leaders pose as obstacles whenever any major initiative is taken up to remove dilapidated vehicles from the roads, bank the movement of old vehicles or strongly enforce the road laws.

For example, in 2018 the government drew up a new road transport law within provision for stringent punishment, in face of the student movement for safe roads. But the transport owners and workers called a strike and prevented the law from being put into effect for one year. When it came into effect, they called strikes and brought all the roads and highways to a standstill.

Later home minister Asaduzzaman Khan held a meeting with the owner and workers leaders and temporarily suspended some of the clauses related to drivers' licences and vehicle fitness. Now work is under process to relax the punishments in various sections of the road law.

An official of the road transport ministry, on condition of anonymity, told Prothom Alo that the ruling party's grassroots leaders control the rudimentary vehicles like nasimon, karimon and battery-run auto-rickshaws all over the country. And the buses, trucks and workers are controlled by the central leaders. That is why many initiatives and decisions for safe roads cannot be implemented.

According to BUET's road accident research institute, 43 per cent of the road accidents in Bangladesh occur on the highways. The total area of all these roads combines are around 4000km. Roads have been developed, but it is observed that there are ruts and potholes in many places of the highways.

Experts say, accidents can occur due to the vehicles, drivers, circumstances and other reasons. But the frequent curves in the roads, ruts and potholes, construction flaws and absence of proper signs and signals, also are causes for accidents.

And yet around Tk 300 billion (Tk 30,000 crore) is spent annually on the roads for development, repairs and maintenance. The repairs in many cases do not last long. The repair word is reportedly or poor standard.

The accidents occur due to unfit vehicles, unlicenced drives, ruts in the road, exhausted and drowsy drivers, illegal vehicles, and the common people have to pay the price. They suffer the pain of losing their loved ones, they fall in financial crisis when the earning member of the family is lost.

In the Faridpur road accidents, liftman Rakib Hossain of the housing and public works ministry was killed along with his mother, wife and their two children. Their 12-member family is not only struck with grief, but is in financial crisis too.

Rakib's brother Md Farid Hossain told Prothom Alo, "Rakib and I were the earning members of our joint family. With Rakib passing away, we are in financial crisis. I don't know how we will manage  in the coming days."

* The report, originally published in the print and online editions of Prothom Alo, has been rewritten for English edition by Ayesha Kabir