Adviser to the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges and Railways, Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan, has emphasised the necessity for skilled and trained drivers to prevent road accidents.
He said, “In the future, to obtain a driving license, one must complete 60 hours of training from an accredited training centre. We will arrange this training. When you take the training, we will also provide a training allowance.”
He made these remarks at a discussion meeting organised in Tejgaon, Dhaka, on Wednesday on the occasion of National Road Safety Day 2025. The day is being observed for the ninth time this year, with the theme “Quality Helmets and Safe Speed Reduce Loss of Life and Property”.
Muhammad Fouzul Kabir Khan said, “What is the real reason for these accidents and traffic jams on our roads? We all know this. The main reason for traffic jams and accidents is that drivers are not trained. To make roads safe and free from traffic jams, drivers must be trained. Therefore, we are fundamentally changing the method of issuing driving licenses. Now, the basis for issuing a driving license will be training. Currently, there is a committee for issuing driving licenses; we are removing that committee.”
When asked, “So how will you get a driving license now?”, he said, “The way people get licenses in other countries. The first and primary condition for getting a license is that you must be trained. For this, we have said that to get a license in the future, you must undergo 60 hours of training.”
Commenting that he wants to transform the BRTA from a regulatory body to a service-oriented one, the adviser said, “We will mostly transfer the majority of tasks from BRTA to the Driving Institute. Therefore, BRTA will not have that regulatory power.”
Noting that most road accidents involve motorcycles, he said, “Since motorcycle usage is increasing, the rate of these accidents and fatalities is also rising. We must increase helmet usage. On roads where construction work is ongoing and passengers are suffering, we will distribute 10,000 helmets in those areas. We hope this will create awareness and significantly reduce road accidents and fatalities.”
Fouzul Kabir further said, “Failure to reduce road accidents is a failure for us. This number is quite large. In Bangladesh, 15 road accidents occur daily, resulting in an average of 27 fatalities. This is a grim statistic. We cannot let this continue under any circumstances. Recently, the number of these accidents has increased further due to the rise in motorcycle usage. When the earning member of a family is lost in an accident, the family is devastated. That is why the Road Transport Act has a legal provision to provide Tk5 lakh in assistance to the family. But in many cases, the family does not receive it. We are telling the BRTA that we will set a target that within this period, assistance must be provided to a certain percentage of people’s families.”
He said, “We will identify accident-prone spots and try to resolve the issues if they are related to road alignment. We will provide the necessary warning signs. Some vehicles will be provided for the police under this project. So that highway police representatives can regularly control reckless vehicles on the roads. We are purchasing ambulances under a World Bank project, which will be stationed on highways. So that if an accident occurs, the injured can be quickly taken to the hospital and their lives can be saved.”
