A missed opportunity for Bangladesh

It is a common phenomenon in many developing countries that government officials show a keen interest in attending conferences, seminars or workshops taking place in different parts of the world, expenses of which are borne by the government. Many of these programmes are not particularly important or mandatory, and attending them brings little or no benefit to our country or citizens. 

There are, however, some international events that are crucial for a country and warrant representation from Bangladesh but for some reason neither the government nor its officials bother to attend them. The recently concluded Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety in the Brazilian capital city of Brasilia was one of them. This conference was important. It gave an idea of the magnitude of road crashes in Bangladesh and worldwide, the growing number of fatalities and the subsequent costs and consequences faced by the victims and the countries. Sadly, there was no Bangladeshi representative there for reasons unknown. It is alleged that this could be a result of the government's indifference or ignorance of this global problem. Perhaps officials and politicians are not as enthusiastic about this issue as we would have liked them to be because they do not seem to consider road accidents to be a serious or immediate problem that needs to be tackled! 

Around 1,800 representatives from more than 130 countries joined the conference with one major objective - how to effectively tackle the new global epidemic that claims 1.2 million lives and injures 30-50 million others a year. A huge number of the injured face lifelong disability. The picture for Bangladesh is no less grim. WHO estimates that more than 21,000 people die in road crashes every year in the country. An accurate number of injured and those disabled by road accidents is not available. Experts estimate the number to be 10-15 times more than that of the deaths. It is strange that the staggering statistics revealed by WHO's latest global report on road safety are apparently not 'important' enough to draw the attention of concerned authorities of the country.

Only a couple of months ago, three government officials, headed by the senior secretary of the Home Ministry, visited Brazil for a weeklong trip to see how machine readable passports were being issued by the Bangladesh embassy there. The visit was not required at all, as the issue was technical. But they went there nevertheless, visited places and uploaded photos on Facebook before returning to Bangladesh. The trip cost about Tk. 1.5 million of taxpayers' money although it is a mystery what benefit this trip was to the country.

Given the magnitude of the problem, many other countries have sent their transport or interior ministers and senior government officials to the conference. They went back to their respective countries with a much clearer idea about the problems and renewed commitment to improve road safety. The Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges of Bangladesh, unfortunately, had no knowledge to gain from this conference as there was no representation of the country.

According to the report of WHO, 90 percent of the road fatalities occur in the low and middle-income countries and road crashes are the leading cause of death for people aged 15-29. Deaths of so many economically active people place a huge burden on the victims' families and the national economy as well. The injured require long-term and expensive treatment.

WHO estimates that road crashes, which are preventable, eat up to 3-5 percent of the gross domestic product of a country. Considering this, the UN general assembly this year, included two goals in its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Achieving the goals would be difficult unless road accidents are curbed. With this in mind, the UN has set an ambitious target: halve road traffic casualties by 2020.

The gathering of world leaders, experts, civil society members at the two-day conference in Brasilia was very important as they had brainstorming sessions on how to make roads safer. They debated on the existing preventive measures, discussed the extent to which they were effective and what else could be done to achieve the target. 

At the end of the conference, the participating countries pledged to take adequate actions to improve and put in place the concerned laws, develop sustainable public transport systems, update safety apparatus of vehicles, end flaws in issuing driving licenses, educate drivers, and make people aware about the use of seat belts and helmets in a bid to curb road accidents.

As per WHO's report, Bangladesh is among the 68 countries that saw increasing road crashes and fatalities. But it made no commitment or played any role in the decision making process of the conference that could have made a difference in this statistic.   

I attended the conference as a WHO road safety reporting fellow and witnessed firsthand the sincerity of other government representatives to fix their next course of actions. There was even a separate session for countries of the South East Asian Region (SEAR). Representatives of SEAR present at the conference pledged to work together to curb road accidents in the region.

Despite being party to the Decade of Action Plan adopted five years ago, Bangladesh is not making adequate efforts to make roads safer. Corrupt practices in issuing licenses that allow unqualified drivers to drive vehicles, allowing unfit vehicles to ply the roads, impunity of reckless drivers are some of the major factors behind the continued increase in road accidents that snatch away lives and livelihoods. Punishment for driving under influence (DUI) - another growing reason of road crashes and deaths worldwide - is yet to be included in the law in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is a country that has poor enforcement of law. Few drivers are seen using seatbelts and the same can be said about bikers using helmets. Talking over the cell phone while driving is a common scene on the roads of Bangladesh. Road safety of children and drunk driving are still little known issues in the country. The crucial post-crash care and treatment of road accident victims is also not considered a priority issue.

Against this backdrop, the government should wake up and take effective measures to make roads safer for all. If they fail to do so, the country, its citizens and its economy will continue to pay the heavy price of road crashes.
 
The writer is a senior reporter of The Daily Star.