Dhaka: Road safety campaigners on Sunday called upon major political parties to include a firm pledge to enact a separate and comprehensive Road Safety Law in their election manifestos ahead of the 13th national parliamentary election. The appeal was made during a press conference organized by the Road Safety Coalition Bangladesh at Dhaka Reporters Unity.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the campaigners argued that the current legal framework is insufficient to address the increasing number of road crash fatalities in the country. Road safety expert M Khalid Mahmud presented a written statement at the event, emphasizing the historical context and current shortcomings of road safety legislation in Bangladesh.
Speakers at the press conference recalled the Motor Vehicles Ordinance of 1983, which was Bangladesh's first transport-related law. They noted its lack of essential road safety provisions, which has led to enduring legal and enforcement gaps. Although a draft Road Transport and Road Safety Act was completed in 2016, it was not enacted until after the 2018 student-led protests, which were ignited by the deaths of two students from Shaheed Ramizuddin Cantonment College. This movement prompted the government to replace the 1983 ordinance with the Road Transport Act, 2018, yet critical road safety elements were still omitted.
The speakers highlighted that the implementation of the 2018 law was postponed due to missing regulations, which were only issued with the Road Transport Rules, 2022 on December 27, 2022. However, these rules addressed road safety issues only minimally, leaving significant legal ambiguities unresolved.
Road crashes remain a leading cause of death and injury in Bangladesh, as noted by the speakers. Official statistics from agencies like the BRTA and Bangladesh Police report around 5,000 deaths and over 10,000 injuries annually. Nonetheless, figures from the World Health Organization, non-governmental organizations, and media suggest that the actual numbers are considerably higher.
The coalition expressed concern that Bangladesh lags behind global best practices and the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030, pointing out that the current law is primarily focused on transport regulation rather than comprehensive safety measures. They identified major gaps, such as insufficient attention to risky road user behavior, inadequate protection for vulnerable road users, the absence of a standardized crash investigation and data system, and the lack of a legally recognized lead agency to coordinate multi-sectoral road safety efforts.
Speakers called for the adoption of the UN-endorsed Safe System Approach, advocating for a separate Road Safety Law to ensure safer speeds, roads, vehicles, and road users, along with an effective post-crash response. They noted that many countries have successfully reduced road fatalities by implementing this science-based approach.
The event was moderated by Kazi Borhan Uddin, Road Safety Project Manager at the Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh. Other notable speakers included Dr Md Shariful Alam, Country Coordinator of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator; Ranjan Karmakar, Executive Director of Steps Towards Development; AHM Bazlur Rahman, CEO of BNNRC; Dr Mahfuzur Rahman, Programme Director at the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh; Md Sharafat-e-Alam of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society; Sharmin Rahman of Dhaka Ahsania Mission; and Swarnil Mondal of Dhaka International University, along with other coalition leaders.