Govt mulls speed monitoring device

Reckless Driving
Govt mulls speed monitoring device
Finds controlling device difficult to install in vehicles within June 30 deadline of HC
The government is finally moving to install speed monitoring devices in all motor vehicles in the country, instead of speed governor seals, with the High Court’s permission, reports The Daily Star.
The HC on June 25 last year directed the government to install speed governor seals in all motor vehicles by June 30 this year, and directed Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) not to renew fitness certificates or registrations if vehicles are not fitted with the device by the deadline.
Speed governor seal is a device that automatically brings a motor vehicle’s speed down when it is running over a pre-set speed limit.
But a problem arose when BRTA found out that CNG, petrol, and octane run vehicles do not have any built-in mechanism for accepting speed control devices. Only diesel run vehicles have the mechanism.
So BRTA returned to the court and explained the situation, and the court told the agency to set up a speed monitoring control room, and install speed monitoring devices in all motor vehicles instead, said Advocate Manzill Murshid, on whose writ petition the HC had issued the original order.
Reckless driving and speeding are major causes of road accidents that, according to police records, claim 3,500 lives a year, Prof Shamsul Hoque, director of the Accident Reasearch Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, told The Daily Star yesterday.
He also said a World Bank survey conducted in 2002 found that around 10,000 persons are killed annually in road accidents across the country, which also causes an annual financial loss of Tk 7,500 crore.
According to BRTA, there are over 12 lakh motor vehicles in the country, and the agency will not be able to install the speed monitoring device in all those vehicles by the current deadline.
So it will go to the court again before June 30 seeking an extension of the deadline, and permission for installing the device in all motor vehicles in phases, starting with 71,505 trucks.
“We already held a meeting with representatives of five companies that are equipped to provide vehicle speed monitoring services, and discussed how we can start installing the device in trucks,” Director (Engineering) of BRTA Saiful Haque told The Daily Star recently.
Although it is not yet fixed how much it will cost to install the device in a vehicle, BRTA sources said the cost will probably be between Tk 10,000 and Tk 12,000, and there will also be a monthly service charge of around Tk 600.
The device is the size of a cigarette packet, the sources added.
Data about a vehicle’s location and speed are computed by the unit using signals received from global positioning system via satellites. It processes the data, and transmits it via a communication network to a web server, and a control room retrieves the data from the server. The system cannot control the speed of a vehicle.
As the incidents of speeding will be recorded in the control room, the authorities will later fine the owners of the speeding vehicles.
Currently the penalty for speeding is Tk 500 fine, and if caught by police sergeants with yellow vests the fine is Tk 1,000.
The details of the penalty system for speeding following installation of the device in all motor vehicles, is yet to be worked out.
Five companies are now providing the speed monitoring service, and the device in the country.
The companies informed BRTA that each of them has the capacity of installing the device in three lakh automobiles.
According to the Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1983, the maximum speed for light vehicles like cars and motor cycles is 113 kilometres per hour (kmph), for buses and minibuses it is 56 kmph, for heavy vehicles like trucks it is 40 kmph, and for fire brigade vehicles 48 kmph.

Courtesy of The Daily Star