Experts for formulating ‘road safety act’ to prevent road crashes

Experts emphasised the need to include a provision to the existing law to prevent road crashes or to enact a separate road safety act based on the internationally recognised five pillars or "Safe System Approach".

Addressing an event titled "High-Level Dialogue on Road Transport Act-2018 and Road Transport Rules-2022: Role of Media", they said it is not possible to ensure road safety under the recently formulated Road Transport Rules as it missed proper importance to road safety issues outlined by the United Nations.

Out of 167 rules, only five mention road safety issues. The rest have given importance to issues related to the road transport system, they added.

The National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh organised the event at Daily Star's Shaheed Azimur Rahman Conference Hall in the capital city on Wednesday.

Dr Mahfuzur Rahman Bhuiyan of the National Heart Foundation Hospital and Research Institute's Road Safety and Injury Prevention Program suggested implementing the five pillars outlined in the United Nations Second Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030 to prevent premature deaths. The five pillars include safe road management, safe roads, safe motor vehicles, safe road users, and post-accident management.

These pillars have been successfully used in other countries to prevent road crashes and save people from injury.

Dr Mahfuz also emphasised the importance of addressing the five behavioural risks identified by the World Health Organization, which include reducing speed, wearing seat belts, using proper helmets, not driving after having alcohol, and arrangement of special seats for children.

Some 23,166 people die in road accidents annually in Bangladesh according to the centre for injury prevention and research, Bangladesh (Ciprb) and the health ministry statistics.

President of Bangladesh Orthopaedic Society Professor Dr Monayem Hossain said, around 300 patients come to the emergency unit of the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor) daily. Some 40% of them are road accident victims. Most of the road accident victims are from the 18-45 age group, mostly the lone-earning member of their families.  

It is not enough to formulate some road transport rules to prevent road crashes. Rather, it is necessary to execute the law which helps decrease 40% of the number of accident victims and mitigate the financial loss of the country and families, he added.  

National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh Secretary General Professor Dr Khandkar Abdul Awal Rizvi said the government needs to set priorities. The first of these five pillars is management. The management should be fixed and the existing traffic system should be utilised properly.

"To make roads safer, vehicles' speed have to be controlled; riders have to wear seatbelts properly and the use of standard helmets must be ensured. Besides, proper treatment of injured persons and arrangements regarding rehabilitation for accident victims must be ensured," said Abdul Awal Rizvi.

Speakers in the event said if the condition of roads improves in this country, the speed of vehicles as well as accidents increases. But other countries curtail accidents by controlling speed. Decreasing road crashes will help decrease untimely and preventable deaths.

According to the World Health Organisation, road accidents are the 8th shocking cause of people's death worldwide. Due to road accidents, the country loses 3% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year.