Bangladesh government is going to amend the ‘Road Transport Act 2018’. The amendment bill proposes to reduce the penalty by about ten places. Notable among these is that all transport workers, including accused drivers, will be exempted from jail and fines.
According to the existing law, if any person is seriously injured or killed in an accident, the person responsible will be punished with imprisonment for a maximum of five years or a fine of Tk 5 lakh or both. In the proposed amendments, the fine is being reduced to three lakh takas. Also the word ‘seriously’ injured’ is forced.
To get a driving license for a three-wheeler, it is now enough to pass up to the fifth class. In the existing law, this qualification was up to class VIII. Mechanized electric battery-operated vehicles, bicycles, rickshaws, and vans are recognized as motor vehicles.
Once the draft amendment goes through the vetting process, it will soon be presented for approval in the Cabinet meeting. According to the new proposal, offenses under Sections 84 and 98 will be considered bailable. On the other hand, the offense under section 98 is said to be non-committable.
Earlier, the offenses mentioned in these three sections were considered non-bailable. According to the draft of the new amendment, a fine of up to 15 thousand takas has been mentioned for driving without a driving license. Earlier it was up to 25 thousand takas.
Moreover, a fine of up to two thousand rupees has been proposed for disobeying traffic signals. According to the existing law, it is punishable up to 10 thousand takas. However, in the new proposal, the issue of imprisonment has been abolished.
Secretary General of Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Khandkar Enayet Ullah sees the new proposal as positive. He believes that the new proposal will be useful in solving the driver crisis. But transport and experts are not taking the new proposal as positive.
Professor Dr. Shamsul Haque of Bangladesh Engineering University said that if the new amendment proposal is implemented, it will not be possible to prevent accidents, maintain order on the roads and ensure law-based transport system.