A severe shortage of manpower at key agencies, including police, is hampering the enforcement of road safety measures, and leading the number of accidents in Bangladesh to continue spiraling upwards.
According to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the government has set goals to reduce road accidents by 25% by 2025 and 50% by 2030 as per the sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, a total of 5,088 people were killed in 5,472 road crashes in 2021, 30% higher than the previous year, according to a police report.
Road safety organizations put the figures much higher.
A rising number of vehicles and lack of awareness among drivers also contribute to the rising number of accidents, according to experts.
Amid the rising number of accidents, the country is set to observe National Road Safety Day on Saturday. The theme for the day this year is “Follow the law on the road, return safely home”.
The Road Transport and Bridges Ministry has drawn up various programs, including souvenir publications, discussion events, a parade and road safety campaign. Various social organizations will also organize events to raise awareness of road safety.
“We have taken various programs to observe National Road Safety Day. Our main objective is to raise awareness of road safety, as many people often violate rules,” Nur Mohammad Mazumder, chairman of the BRTA, said at a press briefing on Friday.
“While many drivers flout rules, enforcement of the law has also been weak due to a severe shortage of manpower,” he added.
Manpower shortage
According to the Road Transport Act, the three main functions of the BRTA are issuing fitness certificates after testing vehicles, providing driver’s licenses after appropriate tests, and registering vehicles. All three of these tasks are directly related to road safety, but the BRTA has been unable to conduct them properly amid an avalanche of applications.
There are currently 125 inspectors in the country who conduct driving license tests, and they receive about 500,000 driving license applications each year. Just four inspectors at the BRTA Mirpur office receive over 600 applications each day.
About 30 minutes is needed to conduct a driving test properly, which is impossible with the number of waiting applicants.
The BRTA also does not have enough staff to check road rule violations. They can deploy only five magistrates to monitor over two million vehicles in Dhaka city.
Drivers at fault
Prof Hadiuzzaman, director of the Accident Research Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said analysis of data from 1999 to 2021 shows that drivers are responsible for 90% of accidents. Most of the drivers did not receive proper training.
Ilyas Kanchan, founder and chairman of the Nirapad Sarak Chai, said: “Ensuring properly trained drivers is the most important to prevent road accidents."
He also called for the creation of a database on how many vehicles were on the road and their fitness status.
"BRTA still can't implement the Road Transport Act due to pressure from public transport owners and workers," he alleged.
The BRTA has recently drafted new Road Transport Rules under the Road Transport Act, but the rules have not been approved yet.
Nur Mohammad Mazumder said: “Everyone should be responsible to ensure road safety. Drivers have to follow the rules and passengers should obey the law, or we won't be able to ensure safe roads as our resources are limited.”