The New Nation - Internet Edition

Razzak Raza

Traffic Management by strict enforcement of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance has been the point of discussion now- a- days. The torturous traffic congestion in the capital city (in fact, in all the major cities) and the ever growing rate of traffic accidents compelled the government to rethink the tougher implementation of the MVO. At a high level meeting under the chairmanship of the Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs Md. Abdul Karim, it was decided that the driving license of the traffic law violators would be cancelled. The meeting was attended by the Commissioner of DMP Mr. Naim Ahmad, chief Executive of the DCC and other Government officials from police and other departments.

The execution of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance (MVO) is the most critical police job is Bangladesh. In 1983, when the ordinance was promulgated, it was really a tough law. The offences under the law were toughly addressed. But in the subsequent years, pressure mounted on the government to make the law lenient. The owners, drivers and the other related worker-organizations subject to this law went wild against the government. So, the Ershad Regime gave in to the pressure groups and made the amendment of this law. With this amendment, the MOV turned a super lenient law and offenders gained the upper hand .The amount of fine, the term of imprisonment and conditions of safety driving had been slackened. Now punishment under the MVO is the minimum with compare to any other countries in the world. For example, under section 138 (driving without license), as the original ordinance (ordinance no-LV-of 1983), described, "whoever drives a motor vehicle or public service vehicle in contravention of provisions of subjection (1) of section-3 shall be punishable with imprisonment which may extend to two years ,or with fines which may extend to one thousand taka, or with both .''

But at the amendment (Act 8 of 1989), the imprisonment was reduced to 4 months (from two years) and the fine to tk- 500(from tk-1000). This type of remission of punishment was made in all the penal sections.

As the traffic law violators are not like the criminals of traditional categories (crime against property or crime against human body), the term of imprisonment might be compromised. But the pecuniary punishment should be imposed in such a way that the offender may find it heavier to violate the rule. But under the present MVO, the pecuniary punishment is ridiculously low .For example, the punishment of reckless driving under the MVO is (section 143) only 500 taka (for the first time) or imprisonment up to six month and suspension of driving license at a definite period. But the similar offence in Singapore will cost the offender a fine of 170 Singaporean dollars for light vehicle and 200 Singaporean dollars for a heavy vehicle. The fine is amount to (170x50) 8500 taka if converted to Bangladeshi currency. Besides this, the errant driver will accumulate 24 Demerit Points under the Drivers Improvement Point System which caused him to lose his driving license.

The monthly income of a taxi driver in Singapore may not exceed one thousand Singaporean Dollars. Undergoing a fine of 170 dollars at a single offence is a great shock for him. This two-fold material loss makes a driver in Singapore more cautious and more traffic law abiding.

Under the motor vehicle ordinance (Amended in 1989), the commission of the following offences may result in the suspension /cancellation/ deprivation of the driver from driving license ---

· Driving at excessive speed (section 142)

· Deriving recklessly or dangerously (section 143)

· Deriving under the influence of drink or drug ( section 144 )

· Racing or trial of speed (section 148)

For the following reasons (depriving of driving license section- 164)

1. Driving against red light; or

2. Overtaking just before or on the pedestrian crossing or where overtaking is prohibited; or

3. Driving on to a main road without stopping and exceeding the speed limit indicated on the road; or

4. Not giving way to other vehicle intentionally; or

5. Driving in opposite direction on one way road; or

6. Any other matter as may be prescribed.

Here it should be noted that under the section 164 of the MVO no officer below the rank of a Superintendent of Police or the Deputy Commissioner (in a Metropolitan jurisdiction) or an Assistant Director of the BRTA can go for execution, and, the offence must be committed before the officers mentioned.

All the sections stipulate the period of suspension, cancellation or deprivation. The punishment of these three sections about the driving license is identical. The terms 'cancellation', 'suspension' and 'deprivation' should bear distinct legal explanations. But in the MVO the specification of time made them identical. The cancellation or revoking of driving license should cause the errant drivers to re-sit for the driving test to regain a driving license. But the consequence of the sections 142,143,144,148 and 164 is not defined. So, the punishment of suspension/ cancellation or deprivation of driving license has a little influence on the offender drivers. The interesting fact is, as the Joint Commissioner (Traffic) of DMP Mr. Jasim Uddin observes, the fine imposed on the drivers by the traffic police is paid by the owners of the vehicles at fault. So, the drivers are always untouched and, therefore, they remain unmoved to the sufferings of the other citizens.

I, therefore, propose the introduction of the Drivers Improvement Point Systems (DIPS) modeled by the Singapore Traffic Police. DIPS is a uniform system which addresses every aspect of the offence, and, thus influences the prevention and execution of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance. Now let us explain the DIPS of Singapore Traffic Police.

DIPS is an unique system introduced in 1983 in Singapore by the Traffic Police. It is designed to identify high-risk motorists or habitual offenders driving in Singapore. It compels the errant drivers to re-sit and pass a driving test before they are allowed to drive again.

Under the DIPS, drivers violating some scheduled offences are awarded with demerit points. There are 8 categories of offences that carry demerit points. They carry 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 18 & 24 demerit points according to the severity of offences.

A driver is allowed to accumulate 24 demerit points within 24 months before he becomes liable for suspension of driving license. A second time offender will only be allowed 12 demerit points within 12 months.

A new driver's license will be revoked upon accumulation of 13 or more demerit points within a period of 12 months from the date of grant of the license.

A driver who maintains a 12 months period of free of offences with demerit points from the date of last offence will have all his previous demerit points cancelled from his record.

A driver maintaining 24 months of period free of offences from the date of expiry of the last suspension with DIPS, will have all previous suspensions cancelled from the record.

Scheduled offences under DIPS might be awarded from 3 demerit points to 24 demerit points and also welcome a fine from 120 Sing dollars to 230 Sing solar for the first time offenders.

For instance, some of the offences and the numbers of Demerit Points are tabled below:

Name of the offences Number of Demerit Points

Disobeying traffic direction of a Police Officer 3

Exceeding speed limit of vehicle by up to 20km/h. 4

Driving or riding against the flow of traffic. 6

Exceeding speed limit for vehicle by more than

30km/h up to 40km/h 8

Driving without due care or reasonable consideration for

other road users. 6

Exceeding speed limit for vehicle by more than 40km/h

up to 50km/h. 12

Exceeding speed limit for vehicle by more than 50 km/h

up to 60km/h. 18

Exceeding speed limit for vehicle by more than 60 km/h.

Or reckless or dangerous driving 24

A first time suspension will last three months. Subsequent suspensions may be up to three years.

Where the suspension period lasts a year or longer, the motorist will have his license revoked and will have to re-sit and pass all the tests in order to be allowed to drive again.

A person shall not be allowed to take a test of competence to drive any class of vehicle ---

(a) During the period of suspension of a license, whether for the same or for a different class of license held by him;

(b) During the period for which he has been disqualified from holding or obtaining a license, whether for the same or for a different class of license; or

(c) Within the period of one year from the date of the revocation of a license, whether for the same or for a different class of license held by him.

Motorists with a clean driving record for a continuous three years will enjoy a 5% discount over and above the usual No-Claim Bonus when they renew their insurance policy. They must not have made any claims on their vehicles' insurance for the past three years.

Owners of all privately owned vehicles, including buses and motorcycles, are eligible for the incentive scheme given by the participating insurance companies. DIPS is applicable for the foreign drivers deriving in Singapore. Accumulation of 24 pts within 24 months will disallow him to drive in Singapore.

Demerit Points must follow a fine not less than 120 dollars.

The award of demerit points and amount of fine are not negotiable.

Needless to say that Bangladesh is not technologically such a developed country as Singapore is. In Singapore bureaucracy is run through E-governance. The whole of the country is computerised in the true sense. Their Traffic Police and the related agencies are computerised. They maintain data-base of all statistics. In a strong data base particulars of vehicles and drivers are kept. No driver and no vehicle is unknown there. A driver with faulty documents (for fake document virtually does not exist here) is easily and accurately identified. Traffic Police in the street in a suspicious case log-in direct to the central data base with their PDA (Personal Digital Aid) and check the authenticity of the documents provided by the suspected drivers.

The accumulation of negative points is duly recorded and is preserved to the data base. The related agencies such as the Singapore Safety Deriving School (SSDS), Land Transport Authority and the other police agencies are provided with the particulars of the offence and punishment of the errant drivers or the vehicles at fault. Besides the traffic police on duty the traffic law violators are caught in the Traffic Light Surveillance Camera, Auto Speed Radar Camera, Breathe Evidential Analyzer (BEA) and in the CCTV. So the chance of escaping from prosecution is very thin. But in Bangladesh we have none of these facilities or technical supports. Our bureaucracy is still paper based. Human recourses are the only means to execute the traffic law. So, the following things should be done before (in some cases gradually) the inception of DIPS-

· Computer technology should be introduced to all sections of traffic police and in the BRTA who are responsible for issuing driving license and registering motor vehicles.

· A data base of drivers, driving license, vehicles registration and any other necessary information should be maintained.

· Modern gadgets to identify fake documents, and driving license of the errant drivers should be introduced.

· PDA must be supplied to the traffic police

· Data on drivers and vehicles must be available to the traffic police on line

· Traffic control system should be mechanized

· Traffic Police should be orientated with modern technology and internet service

A Short-cut Way to Switch over DIPS

The BRTA provides the drivers with laminated driving licenses. The data on drivers are preserved to them. They can re-adjust the data with customer use. The mobile phone operators may be contracted to make the data available for the law enforces through their mobile phones. Internet services are already available through the mobile phone. So, few changes to their software will suffice to make this service reachable to the Traffic Police Department.

The main obstacle to sweep to DIPS will be the forged documents. For a novice driver earning a driving license is difficult. But he cares it not. He can buy a driving license of high quality (sometimes apparently more genuine than the genuine one) only at tk-500 or even at less. According to the Joint Commissioner of Traffic Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Mr. Jasim Uddin, 70 percents drivers driving in the Capital City bear fake driving licenses.(Manab Zamin 14/09/07).

A driver driving with a fake document is nearly impossible to prosecute under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance. For, the law enforcers cannot arrest him instantly. Under the section 161 of the MVO, if the law enforcers suspect the documents to be forged under the definition of the section 464 of the Penal Code, they can, at best, seize the documents (not arrest the documents holders) giving the document holder a receipt paper. The owner of these documents or the owner of the vehicle will appear before a court to get back them. However, if the documents are fake nobody will appear before the court because it would be easier for the owner to buy other documents than to get into legal fighting. The impounding saga of fake documents ends here. No follow up from any government agency is made.

The introduction of Drivers Improvement Points System will not ensure the safety of our road users alone. The connected/related departments or agencies should be brought under close co-ordination. Traffic education will be imparted to every citizen. Above all, a rethinking of the Motor Vehicle Ordinance-1983, is a must.