Ghost drivers!

Is it any wonder that with more than a million vehicles on the roads being driven by people without valid license or no license at all, 64 people are killed every day on the roads?And that we feel is a very conservative estimate. Perhaps nowhere is it easier to get a driving license than in Bangladesh. In spite of the many preventive measures that the BRTA has employed, bogus and forged licenses are still finding their way into the hand of dishonest people. And some of the so-called genuine licenses may well have been obtained through underhand means, overlooking the fulfilment of mandatory requirements for obtaining a driving license. Add to that the thousands who do not merit a driving license at all but managing one nevertheless as well as the unknown number of illegal and unregistered vehicles, and that will give us the magnitude of the problem.

The report carried in this paper yesterday reveals a very distressing state of affairs in the transport sector. There are less than half the number of drivers required to drive the 2.9 million registered vehicles in the country. It is a very discomfiting feeling for any one taking a transport for a long or even a short range journey to be nagged by a feeling that the fellow at the wheels may not be a genuine driver. With all these shortcomings, to hear leaders in the transport sector calling for easing the system of issuance of driving license is obnoxious.

With increasing number of vehicles hitting the road every day there is requirement of more drivers, and this generates a vicious cycle that must be stemmed. The authorities must find a solution soon.