Don't beat drivers after crashes: PM

 

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina holds retro-reflective number plate at a function at her office in the capital on Wednesday. 

Giving special emphasis on creating awareness among the common people about the traffic rules, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday urged the countrymen not to take law in their own hands after any road accident.
“Don’t take law in own hands after any accident… don’t try to beat anyone,” she said at a function at the Prime Minister’s Office.
The function was held marking the introduction of the system of retro-reflective number plate, radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and digital registration certificate (vehicle ownership card) aiming to bring discipline and improved services in the sector.
Hasina said that the practice of beating up drivers, vandalising vehicles and setting those on fire after accidents should stop.
“Drivers often do not stop their vehicles after accidents for fear of mass beating and vandalizing,” she said. “After any accident, please don’t set fire on the vehicle… rather try to help the victims,” she appealed the countrymen.
Communications Minister Obaidul Quader, Army Chief and Bangladesh Machine Tools Factory (BMTF) Chairman General Iqbal Karim Bhuiyan, and acting Secretary of the Roads Division MAN Siddique also spoke on the occasion.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) chairman M Ayubur Rahman gave the address of welcome while BMTF managing director Brig Gen Saifur Rahman made a presentation on the new system. BRTA introduced the system with the cooperation of BMTF.
The prime minister said that her government has been working tirelessly to make life easy for the common people as well as to improve their living standard through the use of technology.
She called upon all to follow the traffic rules properly while moving on the roads and also asked all concerned to conduct massive publicity on traffic rules and on the new system.
In this regard, she underscored the need for educating the children about traffic rules from the school level.
About the new system, the Prime Minister said: “The digital system has been introduced to ensure facilities for all including vehicle owners, drivers, controllers and the law enforcers. I hope, this will help enhance services in the transport sector,”
She expressed the hope that the new system would ensure transparency and accountability of the BRTA along side raising its capability and efficiency.
With the introduction of the system, Hasina said, the owners of automobiles and passengers will be free from many hassles. “It will be of help to know how many vehicles a person owns,” she said, and thanked the BMTF for its cooperation to launch the system.
Mentioning road as the main medium of the communication in the country as most of the passengers and goods are transported by road, the prime minister said that her government has made massive development in the communications sector.
“We’ve constructed new bridges and increased lanes on the highways. We’ve ensured expansion of the communication system along with economic uplift by improving the rail and shipping communication system.”
She said that the present government has given special emphasis on building a safe transportation system as an accident resource centre has been set up in the BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology).
Hasina also said that some 25,000 drivers get training every year from 17 institutes of Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), while 77 drivers’ training institutes have been given approval for increasing the training facilities.
She said initiatives have also been taken to construct more training institutes and stop plying of unfit vehicles and those without registration, while BRTA offices have been set up in every district. As a result, the number of road accidents has decreased to a great extent.
Referring to the present government’s commitment to build `Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, the prime minister said that as part of the pledge, the government has given scope for paying motor vehicle tax and fee through online banking.
“We’ve already introduced various e-services including e-governance, e-commerce, e-health, e-education and e-banking,” she said.
Hasina said that all utility services including gas, electricity, water supply and telecommunication have been digitized and the services are being expanded every day to reduce the public sufferings.
Later, the Prime Minister handed over a retro-reflective number plate to BRTA chairman.