The disclosure comes out at the moment when the country’s highways have virtually turned into death-traps that snatch out lives everyday and government’s measure to deter the casualties is proven to be futile. Proper and adequate databases are the primary inputs for chalking out plans and policies to be formulated.
The major controversy, on road safety related statistics, involves the number of road accidents and causalties officially collected by Bangladesh Police based on first information report. According to World Health Organisation, around 18,000 to 20,000 people are killed in road accidents annually in Bangladesh while the number is put between 10,000 and 12,000 by the World Bank and between 2,000 and 2,500 by the Bangladesh Police. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) has no statistics or even assumptions as to the number of unregistered, modified and permanently damaged vehicles and drivers without driving licences. So, an accurate, comprehensive and reliable database is needed for ensuring road safety measures. Experts opined that the government’s statistics on road accidents is not authentic and comprehensive due to a lack of any complete database. As statistics given by law enforcing agencies, newspapers and non-government organisations are creating controversy it signifies the urgency to create a complete database. As per BRTA, against 29.84 lakh registered vehicles there are about 20 lakh people having driving licenses. Many modified trucks and covered vans now operate in rural areas along with huge numbers of unauthorised three-wheelers, battery-run easy-bikes and other vehicles but there is no database on them.
Road safety has become one of the most pressing objectives for our national development as frequent road accident related deaths is the single highest cause in the country for adult mortality. Besides, financial loss and physical trauma that haunts injured people for lifelong should not be uncounted. We thank the government for increasing the breadth of many highways, but the number of road accidents is not decreasing due to many reasons, like roadside bazaars, the plying of high and low speedy vehicles side by side, careless driving, the plying of modified vehicles, lack of proper training to the drivers and jay-walkers. The government must work comprehensively and for that an updated and all-inclusive database is essential. And the government should do it on priority basis.
