TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY

With the number of road crashes on the rise, authorities have decided to take a tough stance against unfit and illegal vehicles across the country, aiming to improve the situation.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) will write to district, civil and police administrations to intensify drives against unfit vehicles, and illegally operated three-wheelers like Nasimon and Karimon.

Authorities will also be directed to evict markets set up occupying parts of highways, as such establishments often cause congestion and road crashes.

All these decisions were taken at a stakeholder meeting BRTA convened yesterday at its headquarters in the capital.

However, authorities had taken similar decisions and conducted drives after major accidents, but those initiatives lost momentum after just a few days. As a result, such vehicles return to the roads again.

BRTA arranged the meeting with transport leaders, experts and police personnel, following recent major accidents. According to a police report, the number of accidents and fatalities rose by 30 percent last year, compared to 2020.

ACTION AGAINST DEFAULT VEHICLES

Action against vehicles without updated documents was one of the major agendas of yesterday’s meeting.

BRTA data shows that at least 5.08 lakh registered vehicles, which are eligible for fitness tests, did not renew their documents till January this year.

The meeting’s working paper mentioned that six members of a family in Cox’s Bazar were killed in a recent road accident, and it was later found that the offending vehicle had no updated papers.

The Daily Star had found that the pickup that killed the six brothers on February 8 had no updated papers for the last three years, but was being driven all this time.

Like the pickup, many vehicles are being driven with no updated fitness, tax token and route permit across the country, reads the document.

Although BRTA’s mobile courts and police carry out regular drives, operation of such vehicles could not be stopped fully, it reads.

BRTA spokesperson Mahbub-e-Rabbani said the meeting decided to intensify drives against “default” vehicles and will increase monitoring in this regard.

Abul Kalam, a leader of Dhaka Road Transport Owners Association, who took part in the meeting, said BRTA will write to DCs and SPs to take action against “default” vehicles.

ACTION AGAINST THREE-WHEELERS

Action against illegal three-wheelers, including Nasimon and Karimon, was another important agenda.

The meeting document mentioned that these vehicles are not mechanically safe, and their slow speed increases risks of accidents on highways, roads meant for speedy vehicles. In recent times, such vehicles were involved in several road accidents, killing most of their passengers.

Rabbani, also director (road safety) of BRTA, said they will ask authorities concerned to take strong measures to stop their operation on highways.

The meeting also decided to involve the district-level units of road safety committee and regional transport committee in this regard, another participant of the meeting said.