Your Advocate
This week Your Advocate is Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh. He is the head of the chamber of a renowned law firm, namely, 'Tanjib-ul Alam and Associates ',which has expertise mainly in commercial law, corporate law, admiralty, employment and labor law, land law, banking law, constitutional law, telecom law, energy law, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Intellectual Property Rights and in conducting litigations before courts of different hierarchies.
Query
I have a question to ask which is very much simple but relevant to our day to day life. I have faced this problem few days ago. While I was driving my car this bus hit on the back side of my vehicle and it was severely damaged. Thanks to god that i was not injured. Now the point is as a girl I really didn't wanted to argue with the bus driver moreover it was really difficult to find a traffic police to control. I have seen my brother previously on a similar situation he just took the licence of the faulty driver. But for me in that situation couldn't do much rather just argued with the driver and left. I was also thinking that even if I took the licence of the faulty driver what actually I can do with it? In this kind of situation can u tell me what to do? And even if I manage to take the licence of the driver or any document of that vehicle that is in a fault then what would be my next step in a legal way?
Zareen
Brac University
Response
The problem of being hit by a reckless driver with impunity is just a common feature in Bangladesh. As a matter of legal requirement, every vehicle is supposed to be insured for all sorts of incidents. Unfortunately, due to lack of implementation of law relating to traffic, most of the basic requirements of laws of traffic and road safety are routinely flouted in the country. The rampant violations take place at the hands of those drivers who are plying out-dated and unfit vehicles without either license for the vehicle or the driver himself. Therefore, taking away the driving license may not lead you anywhere in terms of the remedy for the wrong doing. However, it may serve your purpose in lodging a complaint before the police station in identifying the delinquent driver.
If you are hit by a car and in your opinion he was negligent in driving his vehicle, you should immediately take down the number of the vehicle and report to the police about the incident. Please note that the traffic police do not have the authority to receive complaint about any criminal offence that may have been committed by the driver. The designated traffic inspector may have the power to confiscate the documents relating to the vehicle or the driver or the both and submit a complaint for a traffic offence. The power of trial for such offence lies with the Magistrate Court.
In terms of your practical remedy, I am afraid Bangladesh is not one of those countries where one can easily recover compensation from the offending driver. The situation is even more acute if the offending vehicle is a bus which has no fitness certificate and the driver has no driving license or in possession of a fake license. The best method of recovering any loss to your vehicle is to have it comprehensively insured and submit your claim after the incident along with relevant documents including a GD Entry to your insurance company.
Thank you for your query.
For detailed query contact: info@tanjibalam.com
