The government is readying a new law to discipline the transport sector and bring harsher punishment to errant drivers.
The draft law was vetted by the law ministry following the cabinet’s approval, said Rezaul Karim, a spokesman for the road transport ministry, told bdnews24.com on Wednesday.
The law ministry has fast-tracked the vetting of the law amid huge protests by students in parts of Dhaka after the deaths of two students in a road accident on July 29. The draft law is now being sent to the road transport ministry.
The cabinet had approved the draft of the law on March 27 last year. It will be placed in parliament after the cabinet’s final approval.
The law makes it mandatory for drivers to pass the eighth grade in school to qualify for a driving licence.
OTHER KEY POINTS OF THE NEW LAW
>> Assistants to drivers must be educated at least to the fifth grade. Assistants must have mandatory licences.
>> Drivers must be at least 18 years old. Professional drivers must be at least 21 years old.
>> The new law scales up punishment for drivers with no licences to a maximum of six months or a Tk 50,000 fine from three months or Tk 25,000 now.
>> Unlicensed assistants to the drivers will face a jail term for one month or be fined Tk 25,000.
>> The new law bans the use of mobile phones by people behind the wheel. Those who will breach this provision will be jailed for one month or be fined Tk 5,000.
>> The law allows police to arrest drivers without a warrant for charges that involve six months in jail or a Tk 50,000 fine.
The proposed law has a provision to introduce a ‘score system’ to force the drivers to abide by the law, Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam had said earlier.
“In many countries, they have a system to deduct points for wrongdoings; which means the driver loses 1 or 2 points if they make a mistake and the licence is cancelled once all points are gone.”
“We have proposed the same. There will be 12 points in total. The drivers will lose their licences if the points go down to zero.”
