Dhaka, 6 August, Abnews: The Cabinet today approved a revised road transport law suggesting five years of imprisonment alongside penalties for rough driving leading to deaths and grievous injuries while the term was three years under the existing law.
“The cabinet today approved the Road Transport Act 2018 with provisions of highest five years of imprisonment for reckless driving while the term was three years so far,” cabinet secretary Md. Shafiul Alam told a media briefing emerging from the meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair.
The approval came in the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office as Road Transport and Highways Division placed the draft as a supplementary agenda amidst recent nationwide students’ movement for safe road.
“The new law has many deviations from the existing ordinance of 1983 while it introduced new provisions like point system in the driving license,” the cabinet secretary said.
He said the proposed law demanded that the professional drivers must be 21 years old having educational qualification of at least eighth-grade for getting the license while the non-professional drivers, however, could get the license after reaching 18.
A driver would have 12 points against his or her license which would be deducted for violating traffic rules and the license would be scrapped if someone lost all the points.
Alam said if the driver was found to have deliberately caused a crash causing someone’s death would be tried under the existing Penal Code and face the death penalty.
The cabinet secretary said the amount of monetary punishment for reckless driving was not specified in the draft law, which preferred to leave the matter on trial judges. – BSS
ABN/Adrian/Jasim/AD