Highway accidents
Friday, 26 October 2007
THE number of road accidents involving motorised vehicles, particularly passenger buses and trucks, has recorded an alarming rise in recent years. Almost every day, reports on deaths on roads and highways are published in newspapers. Sometimes, the death figures are shockingly high. Since accidents on roads and highways have become routine daily events, the casualties involving those do not anymore stir public emotion as witnessed in case of a train or launch accident. In a major launch or train accident, the number of deaths being high draws the attention of the media as well as the people in general. But in reality, put together the number of deaths due to road accidents would be several times more than the human lives claimed by accidents on river, rail and air routes in any year.
The reasons for the rise in the frequency of road accidents are many. Actually, the absence of any sort of control over traffic movement, coupled with their unscientific construction, has made the country's roads and highways virtual deathtraps. Moreover, during last six or seven years, new roads and highways were added to the national network and the number of vehicles, particularly that of the passenger buses and trucks, more than doubled. At the moment, hardly there is any Thana headquarters in the country which is not connected with the district headquarters through motor-able roads. Accidents do take place on most part of the national highways but some highways, including the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, Dhaka- Mymensingh road, and Dhaka-Aricha road, are very much prone to accidents.
The reasons for increased number of accidents include inadequate road space, poor maintenance, absence of road dividers and rash driving by bus and truck drivers. All the major roads and highways connecting major cities and towns with the capital Dhaka have been experiencing a heavy rush of vehicles in recent years and their expansion was long overdue. The Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the lifeline of the Bangladesh economy, in particular is finding it difficult to cope with the rising number of vehicles. The interim government has reportedly decided to award contract for construction and operation of a four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway to the private sector under build, own and operate arrangement. On completion of this huge road construction project, the problem of transportation of goods between Dhaka and Chittagong would be solved to a large extent. The highways connecting Dhaka with northern and southern districts do also require similar expansion on an urgent basis to make the traffic movement smooth.
But construction of new roads and highways or their expansion is not the only answer to the problem of rising number of road accidents. One of the major pre-conditions for having lower number of accidents remains the effective control over traffic movement on roads and highways. But this vital element is virtually absent in the country. The police have never been serious about stopping rash driving on the highways. The police administration is found to sidetrack the issue on the plea of non-availability of necessary manpower and logistics. The immediate past political government developed a highway police unit to help stop accidents on the highways and brand new cars having all the gadgets that the highway police needed were imported. But only a few months after their deployment, those cars, for mysterious reasons, were withdrawn from the highways. Some highway cars are rather seen on the streets of Dhaka carrying high police officials. The number of motor vehicle accidents on highways cannot be reduced in isolation. The police, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the owners and drivers of buses and trucks need to decide first whether they are serious about bringing down the number of accidents on road and highways. If they did this, it would not take much time to achieve the goal.
The reasons for the rise in the frequency of road accidents are many. Actually, the absence of any sort of control over traffic movement, coupled with their unscientific construction, has made the country's roads and highways virtual deathtraps. Moreover, during last six or seven years, new roads and highways were added to the national network and the number of vehicles, particularly that of the passenger buses and trucks, more than doubled. At the moment, hardly there is any Thana headquarters in the country which is not connected with the district headquarters through motor-able roads. Accidents do take place on most part of the national highways but some highways, including the Dhaka-Chittagong highway, Dhaka- Mymensingh road, and Dhaka-Aricha road, are very much prone to accidents.
The reasons for increased number of accidents include inadequate road space, poor maintenance, absence of road dividers and rash driving by bus and truck drivers. All the major roads and highways connecting major cities and towns with the capital Dhaka have been experiencing a heavy rush of vehicles in recent years and their expansion was long overdue. The Dhaka-Chittagong highway, the lifeline of the Bangladesh economy, in particular is finding it difficult to cope with the rising number of vehicles. The interim government has reportedly decided to award contract for construction and operation of a four-lane Dhaka-Chittagong highway to the private sector under build, own and operate arrangement. On completion of this huge road construction project, the problem of transportation of goods between Dhaka and Chittagong would be solved to a large extent. The highways connecting Dhaka with northern and southern districts do also require similar expansion on an urgent basis to make the traffic movement smooth.
But construction of new roads and highways or their expansion is not the only answer to the problem of rising number of road accidents. One of the major pre-conditions for having lower number of accidents remains the effective control over traffic movement on roads and highways. But this vital element is virtually absent in the country. The police have never been serious about stopping rash driving on the highways. The police administration is found to sidetrack the issue on the plea of non-availability of necessary manpower and logistics. The immediate past political government developed a highway police unit to help stop accidents on the highways and brand new cars having all the gadgets that the highway police needed were imported. But only a few months after their deployment, those cars, for mysterious reasons, were withdrawn from the highways. Some highway cars are rather seen on the streets of Dhaka carrying high police officials. The number of motor vehicle accidents on highways cannot be reduced in isolation. The police, the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, the owners and drivers of buses and trucks need to decide first whether they are serious about bringing down the number of accidents on road and highways. If they did this, it would not take much time to achieve the goal.