Wheels in motion for new road safety act

Amid growing concerns over the large number of lives lost in crashes, the government has taken a step to enact a new law on road safety.  

The move comes five and a half years after the enactment of Road Transport Act-2018 in the wake of a movement for safer roads in July and August 2018.

But still there was a sharp rise in road crashes.

According to an office order of the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD), issued on  January 22, a nine-member committee has been formed to prepare a draft law likely to be titled "Road Safety Act".

The committee led by Saiful Islam, an additional secretary of the division, was asked to submit the draft to the RTHD secretary.

Representatives from the Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Buet, Brac, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and the civil society are part of the committee.

"The issue of enacting a road safety act was in the election manifesto of the Awami League. That's why we have taken the initiative to frame the new law to ensure road safety," RTHD Secretary ABM Amin Ullah Nuri told The Daily Star yesterday.

Road safety campaigners have been demanding a new law as they found the Road Transport Act-2018 inadequate in ensuring road safety.

At least 6,524 people were killed and 11,407 injured in 6,911 crashes last year. Of the deceased, 1,128 (17.29 percent) were children, the Road Safety Foundation said yesterday.

WHY THE NEW ACT?

The parliament in September 2018 passed the Road Transport Act just a few weeks after the country witnessed a major student-led movement for safer roads. The protests began after two college students were run over and killed in Dhaka in July that year.

The law, which came into force in November 2019 replacing the Motor Vehicles Ordinance-1983, mainly deals with the functions of the BRTA that included issuance of registration, fitness certificates for vehicles and licences to drivers.

Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, said safety campaigners demanded that the 2018 law be called road transport and safety act because the law should incorporate safety issues, but the government did not pay heed to them.

Issues like safe vehicles, pedestrian safety, speeding, post-crash management, and construction of safe roads are considered most important globally, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

"These issues cannot be dealt with by the Road Transport Act. That's why we have been demanding a new law incorporating all these issues," Kanchan said.

RTHD Secretary Amin also admitted that the existing law lacked some provisions to ensure road safety. That's why an initiative has been taken to enact a new law.

Asked why many sections of the existing law have not been properly implemented, Amin said the authorities were working to implement those. The secretary said the government will try to make sure the new law is enacted as soon as possible.

HOW WILL THE COMMITTEE WORK?

Committee chief Saiful Islam said the committee members will hold a series of meetings to prepare a "skeleton" of the draft law. Then they will hold meetings with the stakeholders and the ministries concerned.

The committee will also seek public opinion before finalising the draft.

Safety issues related to the drivers, passengers and pedestrians will be incorporated in the new law to reduce crashes, he told The Daily Star yesterday.

In 2022, the BRTA formed a committee to set speed limits for vehicles on all major roads in coordinated ways to reduce crashes and prepared a draft guideline for it, said a committee member wishing anonymity.

The committee in a recent meeting with the RTHD secretary decided to incorporate the speed management issue in the new act, he added.