JULY 29 marked the sixth anniversary of the death of two college students in a road accident in Dhaka that sparked a mass student uprising for road safety. But the promises that the government made remained unmet and road fatalities saw a radical increase. In 2018–2023, as police records show, 22,052 people died and 20,642 became injured in 23,267 accidents. The number of fatalities is much higher in reports of non-governmental organisations. The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh says that 42,645 people died and 64,036 became injured in the period. In December 2023, a World Health Organisation report said that death in road accidents increased annually by 10,000 in seven years, five times higher than the reported death. The government is, meanwhile, frustratingly busy disputing national and international reports and trying to bring civic groups working on passenger rights under state surveillance. The credibility crisis that the government faced in dealing with the student movement for quota reforms is founded on its failure to deliver on the promises it made during the road safety movement.
After the road safety movement, the government made the Road Transport Act 2018 and formed a number of high-powered committees to recommend steps to bring order to the transport sector, plagued with corruption and irregularities. Students and passenger rights advocates raised their concern about the conflict of interest of lawmakers with stakes in the transport sector. There are two main transport workers and owners’ federations, led by lawmakers, that control the road transport sector. Pressure of the federations resulted in reduction in penalties for reckless driving and other offences. The unwillingness of the federations to accept accountability for unfit vehicles and unskilled drivers on the road delayed the implementation of the law. Experts and campaigners asked the government to address three issues — road safety that include the crisis of skilled drivers, a monthly wage structure for transport workers and compensation for road accident victims. Recent Road Transport Authority data show that at least one million registered vehicles are run by unlicensed drivers. The government’s focus, meanwhile, is largely on road infrastructure development and little to no attention to road safety.
The credibility crisis that the government faces with has political implications. It has contributed to students growing mistrust towards the government, which could have been addressed if institutions of accountability had played their role without fear or favour. But that has not been the case. For improved road safety and a possibility for a better relationship with the students, the government, first and foremost, needs to implement the promises it made six years ago during the road safety movement.