A MONTH OF NEW ROAD LAW Demerit point system yet to be introduced

Demerit point system for violating the Road Transport Act 2018 is yet to be implemented even after one month of the enforcement of the law.

The system of cutting points from or stamping on driving licences is a new one, featured in the new law.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority officials said that the system would be implemented after the framing of the rules under the law.

Transport experts and rights activists said that the government should have framed the rules and introduced the system much earlier as the law was enacted in September 2018.

The new law came into effect on November 1, 2019 amidst work abstention by transport workers in many districts which later turned into a countrywide strike on November 20.

Finally the agencies on November 17 began to enforce the law on a limited scale.

Researchers at Accident Research Institute under Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology said that more than 60 per cent of fatal accidents in Bangladesh were caused by drivers.

In these circumstances the demerit point system was introduced in the law defining demerit point as the point which would be cut from the driver’s licence for for commercial use of vehicles meant for personal use, not hanging fare charts on buses, charging extra fares, tempering meters, violating traffic signs and signals, overloading, over speeding, using illegal horns, driving risky and polluting vehicles, illegal parking and boarding or letting go passengers or goods on roads, talking over mobile phones while driving, driving on wrong lanes, not using seatbelts and helmets and not assisting injured people after accidents.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority director for engineering Md Lokman Hossian Mollah told New Age on Wednesday that they were working on framing rules on demerit point system.

A senior official of the authority said that the system would also need to be included in its information technology system.

Road Transport and Highways Division additional secretary Md Abdul Malek, who heads the committee to prepare the rules, told New Age on Wednesday that the rules were under preparation and in less than a month they would submit the finalised rules.

Accident Research Institute director Md Mizanur Rahman said that the road transport authority should have introduced the system when the law came into effect.

He said that this system was in place in other countries and only combined impact of all legal actions under the law could bring much better result in Bangladesh.

Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh secretary general Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury said that the new law could bring no change on roads and anarchy continued.

 ‘The system for cutting points is not introduce till now for lack of foresight and preparation of the government as the law was enacted around 15 months ago,’ he said.

As a result, people might not get the expected results from this law, Mozammel added.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net