Need for making highways safer

A free-for-all situation is now prevailing in the country's highways, barring the most watched and most regulated ones, such as the Jatrabari-Mawa or the Mawa-Bhanga expressways. Battery-run rickshaws, autorickshaws, and motorbikes dominate those, making the journey of all other regular vehicles perilous.
In most cases, buses get involved in fatal accidents in their bid to save the relatively slow-moving three-wheelers on the roads. Motorbikes, given their track record, remain at the top as far as accidents on highways are concerned.
While passing through the Bhanga-Barishal highway on the second day of the Eid-ul-Azha holiday, this scribe witnessed how battery-run rickshaws, vans, and motorbikes make movement difficult for buses, trucks and cars. Though traffic was thin on the day, a passenger bus rammed into a private vehicle just to save a three-wheeler and killed three people on the spot at Maksudpur in Gopalganj. As the bus driver failed to keep his control over the steering, the bus fell into a roadside ditch and turned turtle. Some passengers were also injured.
The highway, being a two-lane one, leaves no space for the movement of three-wheelers or motorbikes. So, most of the time, these vehicles occupy spaces meant for fast-moving four-wheelers. Such unruly movements force the latter to move slower than their average speed, heightening the chance of accidents. Not all vehicle drivers exercise restraints while using roads and highways and turn to rash driving. Some of them thus get involved in accidents.
Legally, easy bikes, motorized rickshaws, and auto rickshaws are barred from using highways. The government has reminded the people of this ban on several occasions. The country's higher court also declared the use of highways by three-wheelers and other slow-moving vehicles illegal. Yet the situation on the ground has remained the same, mainly because of the lack of enforcement of the relevant laws and directives.
Some weeks back, Road Transport and Bridges Minister and General Secretary of the ruling party, Mr Obaidul Quader, raised hope about eliminating motorized three-wheelers from roads and highways within cities and towns and beyond. But the hope was dashed when the head of the government permitted these vehicles to operate for humanitarian reasons.
The directive from the top has emboldened battery-run rickshaws and easy bikes. They used to avoid the main roads and plied the peripheral roads in Dhaka. Now, they are seen everywhere. The pedal rickshaw will soon be a thing of the past, for most of them in Dhaka city have had batteries fitted on them during the last couple of weeks.
Not all accidents involve motorized rickshaws, but most do. Rash driving by bus drivers is no less responsible for accidents on highways. The proliferation of illegal rickshaws and easy bikes should have been a primary concern of people at the helm of the country's administration and responsible for managing roads and road transport.
When the battery-run vehicles started appearing on the roads slowly but steadily, the government took no action against them. However, when the attention of a High Court Bench was drawn in 2015 to the proliferation of motorized rickshaws, it ordered their removal from the streets. However, the authorities concerned preferred to remain indifferent except for banning the import of new easy bikes. However, the government imposed no restrictions on the import of batteries and accessories necessary for building these vehicles. So, assembling identical vehicles locally flourished and soon became a billion-taka industry. Meanwhile, a vested interested group comprising both uniformed and ununiformed people emerged to exploit the situation. It provided support for the illegal plying of illegal easy bikes and all other types of motor-fitted rickshaws and vans for an ensured and regular inflow of cash for themselves.
The problem gradually turned enormous and went beyond the reach of the government. It has become difficult for the government to stop these vehicles from plying. But their presence poses a serious threat to orderly vehicular movement, be it within cities and towns or on highways. Yet some people in authority recently have taken great satisfaction in declaring these rickety and unsafe vehicles 'Banglar Tesla'. They, however, did not disclose the volume of electricity pilfered to charge the batteries of vehicles daily when a large area across the country goes without power.
It is not yet known how many lives were lost in road accidents throughout the country during this year's pre and post-Eid-ul-Azha days. The Road Safety Forum (RSF) has claimed 262 people lost lives in road accidents during Eid-ul-Azha holidays this year. Road accident-related deaths are under-reported. The data available from official agencies such as Bangladesh Police and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) are found to be far lower than those of the unofficial ones. The Jatri Kallyan Samity claims that the number of people who die in road accidents every year in the country stands between 9000 and 10000. In the BRTA's record, the number is over 5000.
Besides, thousands of people are also injured, some of them maimed, in road accidents every year. According to an estimate 1.5 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) is lost annually due to road accidents.
These statistics are of little value to policymakers or other relevant people. The issues involving Russell's viper's bite are now far more important to them. At least two ministries are now busy dealing with those.
The road transport ministry must prioritise the issue of growing number of road accidents. The threat from battery-run rickshaws or easy bikes is very real.