Road accidents cost BD 2pc of its GDP

Road accidents alone cost Bangladesh 1.0 to 2.0 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP), a study has revealed.
The study titled "Road Safety in Bangladesh: Realities and Challenges said that in the absence of road safety measures, most accidents do take place within an area of 57 kilometres and the Dhaka-Chittagong highway constitutes the major part of it.
According to the study, road mishaps claimed 3,137 lives, on an average, annually between 2002 and 2012.
About 5,162 people were killed in road accidents alone in 2013 as recorded by Nirapad Sarak Chai, a movement to ensure road safety.
Presenting the study findings at a ceremony at the Daily Star centre on Wednesday, former Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman termed road accidents in the country an epidemic like infectious diseases and recommended urgent steps to stop the same.
Among the accident-prone highways, the study found, 16.5 per cent accidents took place on Dhaka-Chittagong Highway, followed by Dhaka-Aricha, Nagarbari-Banglabandh, Nagarbari-Rajshahi, Daulatdia-Jhenidah-Khulna, Dhaka-Sylhet, Gazipur-Tangail-Jamalpur, Bangabandhu Bridge approach road and Dhaka-Mymensingh highways.
Forty per cent accidents took place at bus stoppages and 28.40 per cent in bazaars. Bus and trucks are mainly involved in accidents taking lives of pedestrians in maximum cases either by hitting and running over vehicles or by head on-collisions.
The BRAC and the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) jointly organised the workshop to share the findings of study released on the occasion of the 3rd death anniversary of Tareque Masud and Mishuk Munier who died in a tragic road accidents.
Communication Minister Obaidul Quader attended the workshop as chief guest. Among others, The Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam, Barrister Sara Hossain, Professor Humayun Kabir Chowdhury, FBCCI director Abdul Haq and Ilyas Kanchon were discussants at the workshop.
In his speech, the minister admitted that many steps taken by his ministry to ensure road safety had turned ineffective due to political interference and 'politics of voting.'
He said many important development projects including the Dhaka Chittagong Four lane project have been delayed as he faced difficulty to convince local leaders to shift many mosques, schools, bazaars even after paying compensation.
Despite the limitation, he claimed his efforts to improve black spots had reduced 90 per cent road accidents on Dhaka-Aricha Highway and some other roads.
During the discussion, Barrister Sara Hossain emphasized on formulation of regulations on road and traffic as the old British Motor Vehicles regulation could not ensure fair trial of fatal accidents.
Mahfuz Anam stressed on vehicles' fitness and driving skills including their health for ensuring road safety saying that unfit vehicles operate like 'mobile bomb' and eye sight problem of drivers might lead to severe consequence on the streets.
Ilyas Khanchon of Nirapad Sarak Andolon, however recommended formation of an authority on road safety headed by the Prime Minister for giving priority to issues relevant to road safety.