Post-accident probe to help cut road crashes

The government should pay more attention to post-accident investigation to reduce road crashes because it will unveil the causes and help authorities address the problem properly, a multi-stakeholder group recommended yesterday.

They also called for inclusion of a provision regarding post-accident investigation in the proposed Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) Act-2015.

The stakeholder group, which is comprised of experts, road safety activists, transport owners and workers, placed the recommendations to the parliamentary standing committee on the road transport and bridges ministry, at the Parliament Members Club.

Explaining the importance of post-accident investigation, former caretaker government adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman, who heads the 11-member group, said that after filmmaker Tareque Masud and journalist Mishuk Munier were killed in a road accident in 2011, it was thought that only the driver was responsible.

However, a thorough investigation by the Accident Research Institute of Buet later revealed that engineering faults on the road were a major reason behind the accident, he said.

The faults were corrected later, he added.

The group also recommended including another provision that will allow BRTA to provide services in collaboration with private organisations under Public-Private Partnership (PPP).

BRTA mainly provides three types of service -- it issues and renews driving licences, registers vehicles, and conducts annual fitness survey.

Last year, BRTA registered over 1.5 lakh new vehicles, gave annual fitness certificates to over 5 lakh others and issued around 1.6 lakh driving licences, according to the group, but BRTA is staffed by only 300 people. So, BRTA should outsource to private bodies, said Zillur.

Talking about recruitments, the stakeholder group suggested appointing someone as the BRTA chairman who has professional experience and skills in this sector.

In response, the parliamentary standing committee chairman, Ekabbar Hossain, said the committee would take the recommendations into account and would sit down with stakeholders for scrutiny when the proposed law would be placed in the parliament session.

The cabinet approved the draft BRTA Act-2015 on September 21 to make the organisation legally stronger.