Staff Reporter : A new study reveals that 50 per cent of public transport drivers suffer from poor vision. BRAC’S Road Safety Programme and Junior Chamber International (JCI), Dhaka West jointly conducted the survey at Sayedabad Bus Terminal on April 23 and 24. The eyes of 1200 transport drivers were examined. Among those with vision problems, it found, 76 per cent require spectacles or regular medicine, and 12.6 per cent require eye surgery. Kamran-ul- Baset, head of BRAC’S Road Safety Programme, unveiled the findings at a programme in the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) headquarters. Mahbub-E-Rabbani, Director (road safety) of the BRTA, said that BRTA has a mechanism of eyesight checking before issuing license. “Maybe, its implementation is faulty.” Jahurul Islam, Assistant Professor of National Institute of Ophthalmology, said, “The drivers must be brought under a check-up system. We need a national guideline in this regard.” Ahmed Najmul Hossain, Director at BRAC’S road safety programme, said, “Before this study, we knew nothing about the eyesight of our drivers in Dhaka city.”
