Improving Road Safety
in the OIC Member States
89
restraint laws have not yet been implemented even though some 28% of the total reported
fatalities are passengers in 4-wheeled cars and light vehicles. It has become a priority to redress
this situation and to introduce and enforce a seat belt and child restraints law. This must be
supported by public road safety awareness to decrease road fatalities in Bangladesh. No national
law is in place yet regarding the use of a mobile phone whilst driving.
During interviews it was mentioned that a Road Safety Act was under development. This process
is at its early stages, with the drafting process just started. The initiative is at BRTA and emphasis
will be (amongst others) at vehicle registration, driving licenses and physical tests.
Institutional setting and Lead Agency
A number of organisations are active in improving road safety in Bangladesh. These include the
National Road Safety Council (NRSC), District Road Safety Committees (DRSCs), the Accident
Research Institute (ARI), the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the Road and
Highway Department (RHD),the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED), the
Bangladesh Police, including Highway Police, the Road Transport and Highway Division (RTHD),
the Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA), the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ministry of Information
(MOI), the Bureau of non-Formal Education (BNFE) and NGOs, such as Bangladesh Rural
Advancement Committee (BRAC), Nirapad Sarak Chai, Work for Better Bangladesh (WBB), Safe
Community Foundation, Poribesh Bachao Andolon.5 The roles of some of these organisations
are presented in more detail below (Sohel Mahmud, 2013).
National Road Safety Council
The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) was established in 1995 under the Ministry of
Communications, initially with the support of WB funded road improvement project of RHD;
now a unit of BRTA. An independent organization called Road Safety Cell (RSC) was setup and
acts as secretariat to the NRSC at BRTA. The NRSC Secretariat carries out preparation of plans,
coordination, monitoring and evaluation of planned activities assigned to different agencies and
implementation of some programme assigned to it. The Secretariat severely lacks man-power,
logistics and facilities; hence is yet to become fully functional.
The NRSC comprises of representations from all key agencies including transport owners,
workers associations, professionals in the field, the transport regulator, law enforcers and road
authorities. The NRSC acts as a body for approving and driving forward the national road safety
policy and plans. The NRSC also formulates the National Road Safety Action Plan. Besides, the
NRSC is responsible for holding periodic meetings to provide policy level guiding decisions and
directives to road safety related stake holder organisations, as mentioned above. As mentioned
earlier, meetings of the NRSC are not regular or structural in nature.
District Road Safety Committee
District Road Safety Committees (DRSCs) at the district and metropolitan levels were formed in
1995 to implement programmes and policies of the NRSC and undertake local road safety
5 Based on organisations listed in the National Road Safety Strategic Action Plan, 2014-2016.