The government's decision to fix the speed limit of vehicles on highways across the country at 80 kilometres per hour in an attempt to reduce frequent road accidents may have been well-intentioned, but it has left officials at a loss about how to implement it. It appears that the decision was taken without first resolving the technical difficulties the implementation and monitoring of such a "speed governor seal" on all vehicles entails. A similar initiative was taken once before in 2008 when the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) moved to install the speed measurement device, only to recognise subsequently that the device was applicable for diesel-run vehicles only. With gas-, octane- and petrol-run vehicles accounting for four times the number of diesel-run vehicles in the country, the initiative soon fizzled out, as per a Daily Star report. Meanwhile, there was no monitoring of the handful of diesel-run vehicles that were installed with the device. 

Unfortunately, it seems that the government did not learn from its past mistakes. There is, as yet, no implementation or monitoring plan in place to ensure that the move will produce any concrete results. Even if we were to assume that a new device that can run on all types of vehicles would be designed and installed, who, we ask, would monitor them, given the harsh reality that there's little will or manpower to even monitor the vast number of faulty vehicles on the road or those operating without proper documentation?   

The government ought to set up a comprehensive and realistic plan for reducing highway accidents, beginning with strengthening highway police enforcement and installing speed cameras to check speeding on highways.