Draft road transport act to be tabled in cabinet today
The much-talked-about Road Transport Act is going to be placed in todays Cabinet meeting for approval. The draft law has a provision for a maximum punishment of five years in jail for reckless driving leading to road deaths. This is contrary to the demand by stakeholders for capital punishment for those responsible for fatal road accidents. The provision also contradicts an earlier High Court (HC) verdict that reinstated the maximum punishment for rash driving to seven years in jail from the prevailing three-year imprisonment. Delivering the verdict on March 8, 2015, the HC had also recommended that the punishment for reckless driving should be increased to ensure peoples right to life.
The government took the initiative to approve the proposed Road Transport Act amidst the ongoing protests by students in the country to demand safe roads and justice for the two students killed in a road accident in Dhaka on July 29.
On Thursday, road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader claimed that once the proposed Road Transport Act was enacted into law, it would be possible to ensure maximum punishment for those responsible for road accidents and restore discipline on the roads.
On the contrary, the government is set to approve the draft law that does not contain the provision for capital punishment for reckless driving leading to road deaths. In the draft law, the punishment for causing death through road accidents is being kept as per the Bangladesh Penal Code, 1860. Sections 304 (A) and 304 (B) of the penal code states that the maximum punishment shall be five years and three years in jail for road accident cases.
The highest penalty for death because of reckless driving was seven years as per the penal code, but the law was amended in 1985 and the punishment was commuted to a three-year jail term.
Experts opined that the punishment for causing death on the road must be imprisonment for life to ensure the safety of people.
Otherwise, road fatalities cannot be stopped as reckless driving and road deaths would continue, said a Supreme Court lawyer.
The government should increase the quantum of punishment before approving the proposed Road Transport Act considering the greater interest of the people, he added.
The government took the initiative to formulate the Road Transport Act in 2009, but could not finalise the draft in its first five-year term that ended in 2014 because associations of transport owners and workers had objected to various provisions of the law. During the governments second term, the Road Transport and Highways Division finalised a draft Bill. It will replace the existing Motor Vehicles Ordinance, 1983.
On March 27, 2017, the Cabinet had approved in principle the draft Road Transport Act and made some observations. The Road Transport and Highways Division forwarded the proposed draft to the Legislative and Parliamentary Affairs Division for vetting and revisions on April 17, 2017. On January 4, the draft was analysed in a meeting chaired by law minister Anisul Huq. The law ministry recently sent it to the ministry concerned for placing it in the Cabinet meeting.
After the Cabinet approves the bill, it will be placed in Parliament for vetting and then enacted as law.
The proposed draft has 14 chapters and 144 sections that set many criteria, including education of up to at least eighth grade for getting a driving licence and up to fifth grade to work as a helper. Penalties ranging from one to three months in jail and Tk. 5,000Tk 35,000 as fines for being intoxicated or using mobile phone while driving and driving on the wrong side of the road have also been included. The draft law has introduced harsher punishments for many other driving offences.
