No three-wheelers or easy-bikes would be allowed on the national and regional highways. Such vehicles must have route permits, registration and fitness clearance for operating on dedicated routes. And their drivers have to obtain licences. There would be limitations on the number of vehicles that can run in a particular area. Thus, the number of small vehicles would be controlled which would help reduce road crashes and traffic congestion. A set of draft guidelines prepared by the government to regulate the unregulated small vehicles has stated this. If the regulation comes into effect, different types of three-wheelers like Nasimon and Karimon and battery-run easy-bikes will come under restrictions.
The move comes at a time when the country is witnessing a sharp rise in road accidents and deaths this year and experts blame the operation of a huge number of slow-moving vehicles on the highways for this. Notably, the government has failed to enforce the ban on three-wheelers like Nasimon and Karimon on 22 major national highways imposed in August 2015. A total of 48.69 lakh vehicles were registered with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) until September this year, 3.19 lakh of the vehicles are three-wheelers. But a good number of unregistered three-wheelers like easy-bikes, Nasimon and Karimon are being operated on roads, and the number of these vehicles are increasing day by day. Such small, unregistered and unapproved vehicles are not technically safe for operation. Safety gadgets of the vehicles, including brake, steering, and suspension, are not standard.
Besides, operations of such slow-moving vehicles alongside speedy vehicles on highways often cause accidents and as per different reports, most victims of road accidents are passengers of such vehicles. A total of 3,095 people were killed in 3,259 road crashes in the first seven months of this year which is over 40 per cent higher than that of the same period last year. The small and slow-moving vehicles that are blamed for accidents on highways are however being used by a large number of people as cost-effective transports. Prior permission from the concerned authorities would be required to sell the vehicles. The move to bring the unregistered three-wheelers under regulation is easy but its enforcement is the most important part which must be ensured.
