ONLY about 2 per cent of road accident victims and their families having received compensation since the introduction of a compensation scheme is unacceptable. The scheme was introduced on December 27, 2022 as a provision in the Road Transport Rules 2022 to give compensation to the injured and the heirs of the deceased victims of road accidents. Public data show that families of only 483 deceased victims and 83 injured people received compensation since January 2023 till October 6 this year. The victims and their families received Tk 25.29 crore in damages 鈥� Tk 500,000 each to families of victims who died, Tk 300,000 each to victims severely wounded and Tk 100,000 each to other injured survivors. In the period, at least 9,216 people died and 12,689 were injured in road accidents, as government data show, which is considered very conservative. This means that only 2.58 per cent of victims and their families received compensation. The percentage comes significantly down to 1.5 per cent if the number is calculated against figures from independent sources. The Passengers鈥� Welfare Association says that 12,873 people died and 22,805 others became injured in accidents between January 2023 and September this year.
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority says that 1,940 applications were submitted to the board till October 6 and the board sent 1,835 applications to the permanent investigation committees for investigation. Conservative BRTC data say that less than 9 per cent victims and their families applied for compensation, which raises concern. The authorities explain that the low number of applications for compensation may have been caused by two factors. Either most people do not know of the scheme or the law stipulates that victims鈥� families and survivors need to apply for compensation in 30 days of an accident. When it is urgent that the authorities run awareness campaigns to inform people of the compensation scheme and extend the time limit for application, the authorities have other issues to address to make the scheme more fruitful. One of the major desired outcomes, besides assisting victims and their families, of the scheme is that it would act as a deterrent to road accidents as the fund is composed of fixed token subscriptions from vehicle owners. Experts believe that in spite of letting vehicle owners get away with paying a nominal subscription, an insurance-based compensation system with premiums on vehicle owners, the amount of which would increase with an increase in the number and gravity of accidents, could effectively work as a deterrent to road accidents.
The authorities should, therefore, attend to all these issues to make the scheme effective. They need to run awareness campaigns to inform people of the scheme and extend the time limit for applications. They should also expedite the process of investigating applications and awarding compensation. The authorities should reconsider the fund composition to make the scheme act as a deterrent to road accidents.
