DESPITE directives from different government bodies, three-wheelers routinely ply the highways, causing chaotic traffic situations and deadly accidents. A photograph published in 抖阴精品 on September 21 showed two rickshaw vans and a battery-operated three-wheeler operating on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway. Civic groups monitoring the road safety situation have blamed the continued operation of three-wheelers for the high road fatalities. In June, according to the Road Safety Foundation, of the total 228 fatalities, 151 involved battery-operated easy bikes, nasimon, auto-rickshaws, etc. In Dhaka and Chattogram, battery-run rickshaws were banned by the High Court in 2014, with a subsequent directive in December 2021 prohibiting their import. The Road Transport Act of 2018 further restricted battery-powered rickshaws, along with vans and other three-wheelers, and in 2023, the government unveiled the Registration and Movement of Electric Vehicles Policy. However, this policy did not address battery-operated rickshaws specifically, leaving a regulatory gap.
For a number of reasons battery-operated rickshaws are considered risky for regular operations. Firstly, unregulated operations of vehicles of varying speed operating on the highways are extremely dangerous and are proven to be one of the main reasons for fatal accidents. Secondly, the production of battery-operated rickshaws and their structural and mechanical designs do not have any standard. It is rather arbitrary. Most battery-operated rickshaws plying the city roads reportedly struggle to control their speed. Although there is no specific record of the number of such vehicles, transport sector insiders believe there are 30-40 lakh three-wheelers in the country. Arbitrary production and modification of vehicles is also a cause for concern. The modified bodies of vehicles, especially covered vans, usually illegal extensions in length and width to carry more goods, give these vehicles a tendency to overturn, causing fatal accidents. 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, due to lax monitoring by the road transport authority. Similar concerns are raised about the operation of human haulers, utility vehicles modified to ferry passengers, often without registration, route permits or regard for safety standards. The government response has been limited to banning such vehicles, which too is unsuccessful because without ensuring their livelihood, the directive to ban will never be successfully enforced.
The government should, under the circumstances, address the gaps in its policy decision that without the economic rehabilitation, the directive to ban battery-operated three-wheelers on highways can only be momentarily executed, but it will not be sustainable. More importantly, the government needs to look into the regulatory gap in the production and registration of vehicles to prevent anyone from arbitrarily modifying or designing vehicles and making them available to the market.