THE government鈥檚 going ahead with a new law on road safety whilst the Road Transport Act 2018 is in force has created the scope for doubt, especially regarding its enforcement. The Road Transport Act 2018, made on September 19 that year, after a countrywide road safety movement in July 2018 was set into force on November 1, 2019. But the road transport minister on February 14, 2019 set up a committee involving the home affairs, the law and the railway minister to submit recommendations for amendment to the law, against the backdrop of a transport strike and demands of transport sector leaders, much before the law was enforced. The same day, the road transport minister also set up a committee, headed by the then former shipping minister who was also president of the Bangladesh Road Transport Workers鈥� Federation, to bring order on the road. The committee on April 28, 2019 came up with a set of 111 recommendations that have so far been rarely implemented. The government in September 2011 also set up an expert subcommittee, which came up with 52 short-, mid- and long-term recommendations to discipline the transport sector. The recommendations are yet to be implemented.
Experts, in such a situation, believe that what is rather, instead, needed is a strong focus on the weakness of the institutions that are responsible for bringing order in the road transport sector. They doubt whether the new law would be effectively implemented. They say that the authorities should, rather, strengthen the institutional capacity, accountability and democratic government in relevant authorities, including the Road Transport Authority for the enforcement of the laws and policies that are there to minimise, if not stop, fatalities in road accidents. Official statistics available with the Road Transport Authority say that 2,943 people died in road accidents in the first half of this year, 5,480 in 2024 and 5,024 in 2023. Non-governmental organisation Road Safety Foundation, however, says that 3,662 people died in road accidents in the first six months of this year, 7,294 in 2024 and 6,524 in 2023. Officials say that the proposed legislation, work on which began in January 2022, is chiefly meant for road users such as passengers, pedestrians and drivers whilst the law that is there is meant more for transport owners and workers and regulatory authorities. The law draft also deals with compensation for traffic accident victims. An official, however, says that the 2018 law has not attended to the issues properly and the new legislation is detailed, covering all other policies.
The government should, in such a situation, rather, make one comprehensive law, by attending to the drawbacks in other laws and policies and replacing them altogether whilst it should strengthen the institutional capacity of relevant agencies so that the laws could be effectively implemented.