The police have decided to destroy the licenses of those drivers who have been accused in cases filed in connection with highway accidents.
Also on the cards is another decision to cancel the licenses or route permits of drivers whose vehicles would be involved in three accidents on the highways, officials of highway police told this to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
Stressing that many accidents take place because of reckless driving, officials said such rules are in place in many developed countries.
Police data shows that a total of 26,665 cases have been filed in the last six months in connection with accidents and other occurrences on the highways. During the same period, individuals and organisations have been fined Tk1.25 crore on the highways.
In the first five days of the ongoing drive to stop three-wheeled vehicles plying the highways, law enforcers have filed 5,850 lawsuits. The drivers of 1,511 vehicles have been sued for reckless driving and the remaining 4,338 cases relate with other crimes.
“Cases were been filed and sometimes fines were imposed for breaking rules or creating nuisance on the highways. The situation is improving now,” said Mollic Fakhrul Islam, deputy inspector general of highway police.
According to highway police, the Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet, Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Mawa, Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mymensingh Highways are most prone to accidents. The frequency rises sharply before and after the Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Azha vacations when millions of people travel out and back into Dhaka.
In most of the major accidents, bigger vehicles such as buses and trucks collide with smaller and slower vehicles like microbuses and CNG-run three-wheelers. Because of this, the government has recently banned three-wheelers on highways.
Highway police claimed that accidents have declined significantly since the drive against three-wheelers began. They have been continuously patrolling the highways to keep the small vehicles off the highways and suing or fining the reckless drivers of bigger vehicles.
When contacted, Chowdhury Abdullah Al-Mamun, a deputy inspector general of police, said: “All officials are putting in all-out efforts to prevent accidents and the plying of three-wheelers on the highways. The drive will be strengthened before the upcoming Eid-ul Azha. We are also taking actions against unfit vehicles.”
