The motorcycles are second in the chart of vehicles involved with road accidents as around 59 per cent of the motor bikers do not have licences.
The small vehicle can become serious threat to road safety as every year, Many new motorcycles hit the road, half of which are without driving licence.
BRTA chairman Mashiur Rahman admitted that the increasing number of motorcycles is a threat to road safety. But they are trying their best to restore order on the road.
However, addressing the problem, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is planning to make it a must to have a licence for buying a motorcycle.
BRTA data says as of March this year there were 3.9 million registered vehicles, 2.5 million of which were motorcycles. However, only over 1 million of them are driven by registered bikers, meaning there are 1.5 million who ride without licences. An official of BRTA told The New Nation, “If one of a family has a motorcycle, the others also use it. So, the number of registered riders should be more than the number of motorcycles. But the picture is quite the opposite here in Bangladesh, where the number of registered bikers is less than that of motorcycles.”
According to Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology’s Accident Research Institute (ARI), bus and minibus are responsible for most of the road accidents, followed by motorcycles.
Jatri Kalyan Samity, a platform of the commuters, however, say trucks and covered vans are involved in road accidents in most cases (29 per cent of the accidents in 2018) while motorcycles (25 per cent) comes next.
Motorcycle importing companies enjoy up to 20 per cent duty free facility, which has led to big international brands starting their business in Bangladesh.
Entrepreneurs say around 500,000 motorcycles are assembled or made in the country.
The Transport Ministry said that a number of recent road accidents were caused by motorcyclists who did not have any licence. Businessmen say if the government makes it a must to have a licence to buy a motorcycle, the public will suffer as middlemen will enter the scene. Besides, sale of motorcycles will also decrease.
A BRTA officer conditioning anonymity said, such a decision will not bring any results in reality. Because, who has licence will buy multiple motorcycles. The number of middlemen will increase. It will rather be better if the BRTA can be involved in the licence issuing process, but their capacity has to be augmented.
Shah Md Ashikur Rahman, head of Honda Bangladesh’s finance department, said it takes a year or more for a rider to get a licence. They do not have the capacity to verify if a licence is authentic or not. If BRTA wants, they are willing to help to ensure the safety of the riders by providing them with training.
A driver has to get a learner’s card first, which takes three working days. Then he has to sit for written and practical (field) tests to get the main licence. When someone gets a learner’s card from one BRTA’s three offices, they are given a date about a year later for their final test.
At present, 92,535 people are waiting for their final test at the BRTA’s Mirpur office only. After they pass, they need to complete some other formalities like depositing money, having their photo and fingerprints taken and so on, which takes a few more months. People turn to the middlemen or brokers in such cases.
