Thanks to lax law enforcement
Reckless driving and risky overtaking manoeuvres continue on the highways with impunity, thanks to lax enforcement of traffic rules, constantly putting users' lives at stake.
Every year, several thousand lives are cut short in accidents on the roads and highways mainly due to these ill practices, but the authorities are doing little to check the menace. Road safety laws are there but not much effective due to lenient punishment for culprits and lengthy legal process.
Monday's tragedy in Natore once again brought forth the issue, as at least 33 people perished when a speeding bus overtook a truck and collided head-on with another bus coming from the opposite direction on Bonpara-Hatikumrul highway in one of the country's deadliest-ever accidents.
Talking to reporters at Gazipur's Mouchak yesterday, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said overtaking and reckless driving caused the Natore accident.
ROAD SAFETY PICTURE
On an average, around 3,000 people die every year in road accidents across the country, according to police records.
The World Bank and the World Health Organisation, however, put the figure at 12,000 and 18,000 respectively, says a 2011 report of the Accident Research Institute (ARI) at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
In the last 15 years, a shocking total of 49,847 road crashes occurred in the country, killing 42,526 people and injuring around 39,000, said another ARI report prepared on the basis of police records. The actual number is presumed to be much higher as many accidents remain unreported.
Of the accidents, 54 percent occurred due to speeding and 38 percent for reckless driving, the report said. It also stated 2,431 of these accidents happened because of overtaking.
The country experienced 2,750 road accidents, in which 5,162 people were killed and 8,914 injured across the country last year alone.
CONTRIBUTING FACTORS
Experts mainly blame slack law enforcement, drivers' lack of knowledge about safe driving and indifference towards laws, and faulty planning of roads and highways for road accidents.
"Most of the drivers do not know how to overtake safely. Instead of taking formal training, they learn driving from their predecessors who too don't have knowledge on safe driving," ARI Director Tanweer Hasan told The Daily Star.
While overtaking, drivers often do not even care about maintaining the minimum distance from a vehicle coming from the opposite direction, he said. "They sometimes take it as a game."
"It is necessary to keep at least 200 to 300 feet distance for safe overtaking [at standard speed], a fact most drivers are unaware of," Tanweer added.
The ARI chief held strict enforcement of traffic rules a must to reduce the number of accidents on the highways. The drivers will not dare to drive recklessly if they are punished, he said.
Another report adds untrained drivers, unfit vehicles, and plying of motorised and non-motorised vehicles on the same road to the factors responsible for road accidents.
The report, prepared by Brac and Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) on the basis of government data, media reports, interviews of stakeholders and drivers, and on-the-spot surveys, was released in mid-August.
In 2012, 38.1 percent road accidents involved buses while 30.4 percent trucks, it says.
An analysis by The Daily Star reveals similar statistics. The research, based on the reports published in the newspaper in the last four-and-a-half years, shows around 72 percent deaths in road accidents involved buses or trucks.
Interestingly, drivers themselves have admitted that their tendency of risky overtaking is the main reason behind road crashes.
Talking to The Daily Star, they also blamed errant jaywalkers who, according to them, appear on the roads out of the blue, often causing the drivers lose control on the wheel.
THE LAW & SUGGESTIONS
Though the experts emphasised on proper law enforcement to prevent road accidents, they observed that the existing law is not sufficient.
Under the existing road safety law, a driver may face up to seven years' jail term or fine (not specified) or both for causing deaths by careless driving.
However, the law is rarely enforced, the experts viewed, and the instances of culprits being punished are scarce.
Against the backdrop, the government has recently taken up a project to improve safety measures at 144 accident-prone points, known as black spots, on national highways.
It also prepared a draft of the road transport and traffic act in 2011.
But the draft law got stuck due to opposition from the transport sector people, alleged Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, a movement for safe roads.
"Drivers tend to drive recklessly due to the lack of proper enforcement of laws," he told The Daily Star.
The highway police are not properly equipped and not assigned specific duties, and therefore, the tendencies of reckless driving could not be contained, he said. "Road accidents would not be prevented unless the government deals with the matter very seriously."
Contacted, SM Kamal Hossain, additional deputy inspector general of Highway Police, said despite manpower and logistic constraints, they are trying their best to prevent accidents. "But the scenario cannot be changed overnight."
Actions are often taken against drivers breaking traffic rules, he said claiming, "The rate of accidents has come down due to our activities."
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