AN INCREASING number of illegally modified covered vans plying the road is another example of a regulatory failure in the transport sector. A Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh report shows that 23.33 per cent of the road accidents in 2024 involved covered vans, trucks and pickups. The modified bodies of the vehicles, usually illegal extensions in length and width to carry more goods, give them a tendency to overturn, causing fatal accidents. Four of a family died on August 22 when a covered van overturned to avoid a bus coming from the wrong direction and fell on the car which was carrying the victims in Cumilla on the Dhaka鈥揅hattogram Highway. A 17-year-old covered van helper died in a road accident on the Dhaka鈥揔hulna Highway on September 17 when the covered van collided with another vehicle from behind. Experts blame the Road Transport Authority for giving registration and consequently issuing yearly fitness certificates to such vehicles instead of stopping them from plying roads.
The illegally modified covered vans were introduced during the early days of the millennium. The Road Transport Authority, however, does not have an updated number of such vehicles plying the road. Experts with the Accident Research Institute say that the covered van does not fall in any category of vehicles and they are modified, defying international standards, because of lax monitoring of the authorities and negligence of motor vehicle inspectors. Research finds that some covered vans were modified even by three and a half feet in length, which is far beyond the approved limit. Yet, the authorities continue to approve their registration and issue fitness certificates. From January to July, 2,610 covered vans were registered, which shows a significant increase because the total number of vehicles registered in 2024 was 2,949. There is also concern about the required skills to drive heavy vehicles. Globally, drivers are required to have a separate driving licence for driving heavy vehicles, but that has not been the case. Similar concerns are raised about the operation of human haulers, utility vehicles modified to ferry passengers often without registration, and route permits or regard for safety standards, which creates traffic congestion and add to risks of accidents. Such vehicles are often driven by underage individuals, many of whom lack driving licences and their overloaded condition makes them prone to accidents.
The government should, therefore, take public safety on the road seriously and identify the regulatory lapses in the vehicle registration and fitness certificate issuing process. It should also look into criteria and skills levels for different categories of driving licences so that only adequately skilled drivers drive heavy vehicles.
