Enforce the transport act without delay

It is unfortunate that the Road Transport Act, 2018, which was supposed to take effect from November 1, could not be implemented due to a lack of preparation from the authorities, including the ministry, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and the police. Although the act was passed some 13 months ago, the authorities have not yet formulated the rules to make the law effective. Reportedly, in the new law, the rules regarding registering a vehicle, the method to examine a driving license, and the tenure of a fitness certificate, among other things, have not been defined clearly.  

The government's lack of preparation was clear since there was mismanagement all around. Reportedly, mobile courts run by the BRTA and district administrations could not step in as the law was not incorporated in the schedule of the Mobile Court Act, 2009. Also, police could not impose any on-the-spot fines for traffic rules violations, as their point of sale (PoS) machines, providing instant challan, were not updated with the new law. What is more, there has been little visible effort to make people aware of the new law.

Surely, some provisions in the new act are praiseworthy, such as making the offence of killing anybody by reckless driving non-bailable and awarding the offender a maximum sentence of five years in jail or a fine of Tk 5 lakh or both, awarding hefty fines to the traffic rule violators, etc. But these important provisions will only bear results if the rules are formulated judiciously. It is beyond our understanding why that could not be done in the last 13 months. And it makes absolutely no sense as to why we would have to apply the rules of the erstwhile Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983 while implementing the Road Transport Act, 2018.

We hope the government would make the necessary preparations without delay and fully enforce the new act as soon as possible. In the meantime, the transport owners should have their documents updated and the government and non-government agencies concerned should hold rigorous awareness campaigns to enlighten the public about the new aspects of the act.