DISMANTLING battery-powered rickshaws to keep them off the main road should not be the way to deal with the threat and menace that the technically fragile vehicles pose. The Dhaka north city authorities on May 13 conducted a drive against battery-powered rickshaws and seized dozens from the main roads, declared off-limits to such vehicles, and destroyed three of them. The authorities earlier ordered battery-powered rickshaws, easy bikes and other three-wheelers not to ply the main roads, but such vehicles, considered technically flawed and accident-prone, have continued to ply the main roads and the number of such vehicles, as reports show, has increased exponentially in the capital and across the country since the political changeover of August 2014 as owners and drivers have exploited lax law enforcement. The illegal production of the vehicles has also proliferated. Yet, destroying the vehicles does not address the issue effectively. It, rather, puts the drivers and their families in hardship. This is assuring that the north city authorities have, apparently in response to growing outrage on social media against the destruction of the vehicles, assured compensation and arranging alternative income sources for the three families.
What is unacceptable is that the authorities appear to be struggling to make a decision and enforce it with regard to battery-powered rickshaws, easy bikes and other three-wheelers, which have come to pose an increasing traffic threat and have become a menace. Not only are the main roads in the capital but also the highways are infested with improvised motorised and non-motorised vehicles, found responsible for an increased number of traffic accidents and consequent fatalities. A number of studies show that the modified vehicles are technically flawed to run on the roads and unlicensed, unskilled driving multiply the risks. On a number of occasions, the authorities have banned three-wheelers and non-motorised vehicles from highways and ordered battery-run vehicles to be kept off the city roads. However, the authorities have either failed to enforce the ban or simply overturned them later. The Motor Vehicle Speed Limit Guidelines 2024, adopted in May 2024, also bans all kinds of three-wheelers on expressways, and national and regional highways. All this suggests a worrying circle of decision and indecision on part of the authorities in banning unauthorised three-wheelers.
The authorities should come out of the indecision that they appear to be stuck in and enforce the ban on unauthorised three-wheelers plying main city roads and highways. The authorities should, however, also assess the impact of the ban on passengers and arrange for alternative and safe modes of transport for short distances.
