Challenges of Safe Road Movement

October 22 is the Safe Road Day. But every day in the country, lives are lost in road accidents, many are injured and lead a miserable life. The toll of death in accidents does not stop at anything. We hear about various steps being taken by the government to prevent accidents, but that did not reduce accidents, reckless traffic did not stop. This means that there are gaps in accident prevention measures or in their implementation, it is very important to remove them.

The rate of road accidents in the country is very high. According to a statistic, 80 percent of road accidents occur due to reckless driving, excessive speeding and carelessness of the driver. A driver should rest after driving for four to five hours continuously, this is the rule, but none of the country's drivers follow this rule. As a result, when a tired driver drives, the risk of accidents is naturally higher. This is mainly due to the excessive commercial attitude of the bus owners. The government needs strict monitoring to prevent this trend.

About 30 years ago today on October 22, 1993, the 'Nirapad Sarak Chai' (Safe Road  Movement) movement was initiated in Bangladesh. Actor Elias Kanchan lost his wife Jahanara Kanchan in a miserable sudden road accident and then he formed this movement. In the cabinet meeting on June 5, 2017, a decision was taken to observe October 22 as National Safe Road Day. Since then the day has been celebrated nationally. By observing this day, the public demand to make the country's roads and highways safe is expressed loudly every year. But the question is, are the people getting any benefits? Have we been able to make the road safer?

According to Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, about 9,951 people were killed and 12,356 injured in 6,749 road accidents in 2022. Compared to 2021, road accidents increased by 19.89 percent and fatalities by 27.43 percent in 2022. Noting that the number of registered vehicles has increased by 4 times, it is said that due to free movement of motorcycles, easy bikes and tri-wheelers on national and regional highways in defiance of government orders, the highest number of road accidents and fatalities occurred in 2022 in the last 8 years. Accident area analysis shows that 27.70 percent of total accidents occurred in 2022 on national highways, 52.02 percent on regional highways, 11.88 percent on feeder roads and also, 5.67 percent of total accidents occurred in Dhaka city, 1.71 percent in Chattogram city, 0.99 percent in level crossings.

On the other hand, according to the information of Road Safety Foundation, about 7,713 people were killed and 12,615 injured in 6,829 road accidents in the country in 2022, and 1,061 women and 1,143 children were killed. Moreover, 3,091 people died in 2,973 motorcycle accidents, which is 40.07 percent of the total deaths. Motorcycle accident rate is 43.53 percent and it is very alarming. About 1,627 pedestrians were killed in accidents, which is 21.09 percent of the total fatalities.  About 1,648 people, i.e. 21.36 percent, were killed by vehicle drivers and assistants. During this period 197 boat accidents resulted in 319 deaths, 73 injuries and 92 missing, 326 killed and 113 injured in 354 railway accidents.

In fact, the road transport system in Bangladesh is very chaotic and accident-prone, which is clearly visible in the bus services of the capital, Dhaka. On July 29, 2018, students started a movement demanding safe roads. According to the Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association, about 39,522 people died in road accidents and 58,791 people were injured in 28,299 road accidents in the last five years, among the casualties were 3,941 students. However, the promise of safe roads has not been implemented. According to the observations of the Passenger Welfare Association, the causes of road accidents are reckless speed, dangerous overtaking, road construction defects, free movement of unfit vehicles, carelessness of passengers and pedestrians, driver inefficiency, reckless attitude of the driver, use of mobile or head phone while moving, driving under the influence of drugs, sudden exit of vehicles from feeder roads at level crossings and highways, lack of sidewalks or empty sidewalks. According to research done by Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), 53% of these road accidents occur due to over speeding, 37% due to driver's careless attitude and remaining 10% due to vehicle defects and environment.

According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) data, the number of vehicles registered in the country till September 2023 is 58,64,536, of which the number of motorcycles is 42,40,855. As of October 20, 2019, the number was 27,86,954 and against that the number of driving licenses was 13,60,903. In other words, there were 14,26,251 illegal motorcyclists on the road then and this number has definitely increased. In fact, the amount of information published in the media is four or five times more than the actual accidents. The government needs to get out of the cycle of only forming committees and making recommendations to control road accidents. More than all these, it is necessary to formulate a people-friendly transport strategy. Due to these reasons, road accidents are constantly increasing alarmingly.

In September 2016 interview with the BBC, a bus driver attributed the majority of road accidents in Bangladesh to overworked sleepiness. He said that the drivers are very tired due to 24 hours duty. Drivers are also tired due to the hot air from the engine which is always close to the driver and the external and surrounding noise. Moreover, after doing duty all night, they have to drive again the next morning. How can a man drive for 24 hours? Even if you close your eyes for a second, the situation will be very bad! Accidents happen in moments. Trip culture is responsible for this and a single driver has to handle the journey no matter how far. Due to such overexertion, he fell asleep and caused an accident himself. According to him, if the maximum duty of the driver is fixed to 12 hours or less then the number of accidents will be reduced a lot.

Bangladesh Passenger Welfare Association works on road safety and safe roads. The organisation identified 9(nine) causes of road accidents including reckless driving. Notable among them are - reckless speed of vehicles, carrying passengers in unfit vehicles and goods vehicles, disobeying the decision to stop goods vehicles, driving vehicles with unskilled drivers and helpers. The organisation also made 12 (twelve) recommendations to reduce accidents. Recommendations include stopping excessive fare-anarchy, driver training, banning motorcycles on Eid journeys, maintaining post-Eid monitoring activities, ensuring drivers-workers pay-bonuses and working hours, making the National Road Safety Council an effective institution.

A timely road transport law has been a long-standing demand of the people to prevent accidents. The law is being enacted but it is not being properly implemented. There is no precedent for severe punishment of those responsible for accidents. The committee made 111 recommendations to restore order and control accidents in the road transport sector, which have not been fully implemented. Even the Prime Minister herself gave six-point instructions in June 2018. The directives are to have alternate drivers in long-distance vehicles, a driver should not drive for more than five hours, provide training for drivers and their assistants, make service centers or restrooms along the road at certain distances, stop irregular road crossings or pedestrian crossings according to signals, use of zebra crossings and ensuring that drivers and passengers wear seat belts. The Prime Minister assigned three ministers to monitor that these instructions are implemented. Unfortunately, the logical instructions of the Prime Minister to prevent road accidents have not been properly implemented. It seems as if there is a cow in the book, but in reality, it is not!

Road safety is a very important national issue, but the matter is not getting much importance to the concerned people, due to which the accidents are not decreasing. The demands of the victims, the Prime Minister's six-point directive, restoration of order in the road transport sector and the speedy implementation of the 111 recommendations of the committee in this regard to control accidents, Road Transport Act should be properly implemented. Every day someone's life will be taken on the road, the death toll will continue to increase and from time to time the students' movement will continue to demand safe roads. This needs to end but the question is when the dream of safe road movement for all will be confirmed. Or the challenges of safe road movement will remain elusive!

The writer is Banker and Columnist