A PROJECT developed by The Accident Research Institute (ARI) at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) is expected to help in the reduction of road accidents by 50%, thereby helping to bring down causalities and save Tk 20,000 crore in economic losses every year. A special lab called Operation Control Center (OCC) is expected to be set up under the project, titled “Speed Enforcement, Incident Detection and Emergency System for Safer Bangladesh National Highways.” The government will provide fund for getting necessary equipment support for the institute to conduct modern research to reduce accidents. The project aims to stop speeding and carry out prompt rescue operations at the scene of a crash, according to Project Documents. It is currently awaiting the nod from the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC). The project is estimated to cost Tk1,500 crore – very nominal in comparison to losses now caused due to road accidents.
The Roads and Highways Department, Highway Police, Fire Service and Civil Defense and Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) are supposed to jointly implement the project. According to the plan, a speed monitoring camera will be installed every two kilometers on the 2,000km National Highways, connected with optical fibre to the OCC. The highways will be divided into 40km segments. Each segment will have a station where a fully equipped Highway Police team and a Fire Service and Civil Defence team will be based. The central control room (OCC) will remain active on 24×7 basis arrangement and deliver real-time information to the respective authorities to perform their jobs.
This project is expected to reduce road accidents and save many valuable lives. Around 3,000 accidents occur every year in Bangladesh, killing around 14000-15000 people and injuring many more. The total economic loss of such accidents is estimated to be Tk 40,000 crore per year, which is 2-3% of the country’s GDP. As a signatory to the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, Bangladesh has a commitment to cut causalities from road accidents by half by the year 2020.
We welcome early implementation of the project because it will at least save some invaluable lives from premature deaths, not to speak of minimising lost work hours on the wheel cause financial losses too. The government should buy time anymore in executing the project.
