Most of the bus and truck drivers remain reluctant to get their driving licences upgraded taking an opportunity given by the government.

The government gave the opportunity a year ago as till now the number of licences issued for driving heavy and medium vehicles remains much lower than the number of such vehicles in the country.

Shortage of skilled and experienced drivers is largely blamed for frequent fatal traffic accidents.

According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority chairman Nur Mohammad Mazumder, drivers have not come forward in adequate number to take advantage of the relaxed rules to upgrade their licences.

‘This is not a happy experience for us. Time is passing away but they are not using the opportunity,’ he said, adding, ‘This is our national character.’

Road transport experts blamed lack of close monitoring and the culture of impunity for the overall situation.

According to BRTA statistics, as of Thursday, there were 2.92 lakh drivers with heavy and medium driving licences in the country who drove vehicles such as buses, minibuses, trucks, pickups, and covered, cargo and delivery vans.

As per the BRTA website, the total number of registered buses, minibuses, trucks, pickups, and covered, cargo and delivery vans is now 4.23 lakh in the country.

According the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation, each heavy vehicle needs 2.25 drivers to ensure proper services as per the international standard.

In this situation many drivers run such vehicles without appropriate licences.

On January 18, a couple died on the spot in the airport area of the capital after an Ajmeri Glory Paribahan bus ran over them.

The driver who was operating the bus had a light driving licence.

Drivers with light licences can drive cars and small vehicles, those with medium licences microbuses and other medium vehicles and those with heavy licences can drive heavy vehicles like buses, minibuses and trucks.

Earlier, on January 20, 2020, the authorities relaxed the requirements for drivers to upgrade their licences till June, 2020 following a demand from the leaders of the truck, covered van and goods transport owners and workers.

The decision was taken to overcome the crisis of drivers with heavy driving licences.

As per the original law, drivers with light licences and minimum three-year experiences were eligible for medium driving licences while those with medium licences and minimum three-year experience could apply for heavy driving licences.

Under the relaxed rules, drivers with light licences and minimum one-year experience were eligible for medium driving licences and those with medium licences and minimum one-year experience could apply  for heavy driving licences.

A driver with a light licence and minimum three-year experience was also eligible for a heavy licence, as per the relaxed rules.

The deadline for the relaxed rules was extended first on June 22, 2020 till December 31 the same year and second time on December 31, 2020 till June 2021.

Before the offer, as of July 2019, the number of drivers with heavy licences was 1.63 lakh and of drivers with medium licences was 29,139 in the country while as of Thursday the number of drivers with heavy licences was 1.87 lakh and of drivers with medium licences was 1.04 lakh.

Asked, the BRTA chairman told New Age that they did not have compiled statistics on the number of drivers who had availed the relaxed rules.

A similar opportunity for licence upgradation was offered to drivers earlier in August 2018.

The BRTA chairman on Thursday said that some drivers had faced difficulties in upgrading their licences for a problem with the BRTA software which was solved about two months ago.

He blamed negligence of transport workers and owners for not availing the new opportunity.

‘We are going to publish advertisement again to remind them of the relaxed rules,’ he added.

Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology Accident Research Institute’s former director Professor Shamsul Hoque said that drivers were not interested to upgrade their licences as they were always spared punishment by the authorities and the transport owners.

As drivers and transport owners know that the members of the law enforcement agencies can be ‘managed’ they are neglecting the opportunity like this, he observed.

Drivers are also not interested to go through the driving tests, he said, adding that the regulatory authorities should keep them under close monitoring.

‘The BRTA should work in accordance with a system and should also bring all under the system,’ the professor said.

Professor Mizanur Rahman, another former director of the institute, said that reckless driving was one of the major reasons behind road accidents.

Because of trip-based earning drivers drive recklessly, he said, adding, ‘in most of the cases the transp