Why is RHD forgoing crucial road safety audits?

At a time when we should be leaving no stone unturned to improve Bangladesh's awful records of road crashes and fatalities, it is disturbing to know that the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) is bypassing a crucial safeguard against accidents. As per a report by this daily, the department has 12 ongoing projects to convert two-lane highways into four-lane ones. But most are being implemented without any safety audit, which helps to identify potential design flaws and hazards as well as required safety measures. Reportedly, safety audits were done at the design stage of only three of the projects.

The importance of such assessments in road construction and expansion projects cannot be overstated. Neglecting these can and does lead to deadlier roads, according to experts, with design flaws recognised as a major contributing factor in road accidents. Although the RHD chief engineer claims that they put more emphasis on post-construction audits, the truth is, even those are seldom done. The RHD has an extensive 22,476 km road network across the country, and so far it has conducted audits on only 1,055 km, meaning that over 95 percent of its roads have never been audited. This is unacceptable. While officials sometimes cite lack of funds and manpower for delayed assessments, we find the justification wholly unconvincing given the massive investment put into road infrastructure projects.

We need to keep in mind that the Road Transport Act-2018 recognises faults in road design, construction or maintenance as "offences"—and these offences, as well as a reckless disregard for road safety regulations prevalent across the transport sector, are costing lives on a daily basis. According to an official estimate, at least 5,024 people were killed last year. Unofficially, however, as many as 7,902 people have been reported to have died. Whichever estimate you prefer, it shows the urgent need for comprehensive assessments and safety measures.

Safety audits, therefore, must be integrated as a mandatory and ongoing aspect of all road projects from conception to post-construction phases. Equally crucial is the inclusion of independent auditors to ensure the quality of assessment.