Despite thousands of lives being snuffed out annually in road crashes, mainly owing to unfit engine-run vehicles, there has been no “proper” government, non-government or private data on such vehicles.
Similarly, there is no such estimate on legal and illegal vehicles. The same applies to the number of total road accidents, coupled with the fatalities and injuries arising out of them.
Even though the three factors are linked, not a single “correct” or “complete” estimate is available on them.
However, some private organisations publish monthly and annual data on road mishaps alongside the figures relating to deaths and injuries from them.
Despite their estimates varying from one to the other, nobody or no organization takes responsibility for the information debacle.
Stakeholders think that there should be an official estimate of mass transports – be it legal or illegal – because the country saw immense development in road communication while logging the rising number of road accidents and casualties in the last few years.
Analysing the data available, it is seen that one of the most common reasons for road accidents is unfit or illegal vehicles. Reckless driving also largely contributes to the accidents.
Awareness among citizens has increased though, thanks to the private organisations. These are also waging movements at times whenever there is a major accident in the country.
Experts and road safety movement leaders blame the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) for the lack of an official version of the count on unfit vehicles.
They claim that the private organisations working on road safety, despite their will to work more responsibly, face restrictions.
A key government official at the BRTA confessed to having no estimate -- but he argued that the BRTA is not sitting idle in this regard.
The BRTA data
According to the BRTA's website on June 1, the number of vehicles registered across the country till May was 5,7 41, 863, up from 1,4 27,368 in 2010.
This means during the 2010-2022 period, the number of registered vehicles increased by 4,314,495.
Of the vehicles, more than 500,000 are unfit, sources said. It is learnt that these vehicles were registered illegally.
According to the sources, a large proportion of the vehicles plying on the roads, other than the registered ones, are unfit and unroadworthy.
The BRTA does not have even the information about the number of these unregistered vehicles.
However, on January 26, 2021, during the question-answer session in the parliament, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said that as of December 31, 2020, the number of unfit vehicles in the country was 4 81,029.
Although there is an obligation to update the fitness certificate, the bus owners are not following it regularly. This is evident in a report submitted to the High Court on February 7, 2018.
An expert panel then said the survey was conducted on the internal and external fitness of 83 vehicles. The results showed that 24% of the vehicles had either incorrect or unacceptable fitness certificates. And 33% of the vehicles did not have a fitness certificate with 56% of the vehicles lacking a speed governor seal, an in-built mechanism used for controlling the speed limit of motor vehicles.
Buet finds unfit vehicles risky
The Accident Research Institute (ARI) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) in a study says that 66,661 unfit vehicles were the major cause of accidents between 1998 and 2013.
Another estimate says in a five-year span starting in 2010, nearly 12,000 vehicles caused accidents. Of those, unfit vehicles numbered 2,445.
ARI Director Md Hadiuzzaman said bus owners do not respond to the repeated campaigns for updating fitness certificates without fines.
“They somehow manage to get unfit vehicles plying the roads without a fitness certificate. This is causing the number of such vehicles, accidents and fatalities to increase,” he said.
The expert suggested that the BRTA strongly apply the law to check the irregularities, thus, helping lower the number of accidents and casualties.
“Drives must be intensified to restore discipline on roads. It has no alternative to stopping road fatalities,” Hadiuzzaman added.
Saidur Rahman, executive director of Road Safety Foundation, echoing a similar sentiment, said the law is not being properly implemented to stop unfit vehicles from plying roads.
A vested quarter is behind it all so they can benefit from the unfit vehicles, he said, adding: “In many cases, accidents are taking place intentionally. And the fatalities from those should be called murders, not merely deaths,” Saidur suggested.
Counts by different organisations
Sources at Buet said there are more than 3.5 million registered and 1.5 million unregistered motorbikes in the country.
The number of battery-run vehicles is close to 5 million. And the figure for locally-made engine-driven vehicles namely Nasiman and Karima is almost a million.
Most of these modes of vehicles do not have any valid documents, meaning that they are operating without a fitness certificate.
The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) says there are 110,000 buses, 400,000 trucks and covered-vans, and at least 700,000 pickup-vans across the country.
Of those, 20% buses, 20-25% bus and covered-vans and 10% pickup-vans are unfit.
Plus, a whopping 80% of registered and unregistered human hauliers as well as 4 million motorized-rickshaws are unfit.
PWAB Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said it is not being possible to stop the unfit vehicles due to extortion, bribery and the interference of political leaders.
Harassment by the police is also a major obstacle to this, he said.
“Owners of the unfit vehicles, somehow, manage the authorities concerned to allow the vehicles in question to operate,” Mozammel said. He demanded that regular mobile courts be conducted to check the anarchy.
BRTA-police blame game
A top BRTA official, preferring anonymity, claimed that the transport authority remains active against unfit vehicles throughout the year.
“We carry out drives and mobile courts regularly and take necessary measures too,” he said, solely blaming the owners for the rise in unfit vehicles.
BRTA Director (road safety) Sheikh Md Mahbub-E-Rabbani said they regularly conduct drives and mobile courts in line with the law.
However, he claimed that the police are mostly responsible to check the plying of unfit vehicles.
“They have sufficient manpower to do so,” Rabbani said, suggesting that the reporter ask the law enforcement agency how the unfit vehicles are still operating.
“We're conducting drives. What else can we do?”
But the police directly point their finger at the BRTA as it issues the fitness certificates.
“We don't provide anybody with fitness certificates. As part of our regular duty, we just conduct drives. We seize unfit vehicles and file cases against those,” he concluded.
