Roadside shops, trees make it accident-prone

A stretch of almost 16 kilometres of Gobindaganj-Palashbari road is accident-prone where the district police have set up several signboards bearing words of warning in vain.

Traffic speed is also restricted to 30-40 km/h on that part, but locals say drivers never pay any respect to that.

The Bogra-Rangpur Highway near Palashbari is too high from roadside. There is no side road and the road has depression problem, as some places are high and some are low, according to locals.

Md Ashrafuzzaman, executive engineer of the Roads and Highways of Rangpur Zone, however, said there is no problem on the highway, but Palashbari road is vulnerable for vehicles because roadside environment is not sound.

“While driving, it seems the roadside shops and trees fall on the highway. Therefore, accidents occur frequently on this road,” he observed.

Contradicting the executive engineer, Officer-in-Charge of Highway police Akhtaruzzaman said the        road is not accident-prone. He added, “The drivers normally feel sleepy at this point after driving for 10-13 hours from Dhaka.

“Normally Palashbari road is free and the drivers tend to speed up. As a result, accidents occur very often there,” he added.

Earlier on March 10 this year, at least 10 people were killed in separate accidents on Palashabari road. In one incident, a trucker lost control and his vehicle fell into a roadside ditch. In the other accident, a bus rammed a power tiller on Rangpur-Bogra Highway.

Just 2.5 kilometres away from the spot, a Panchagarh-bound night coach from Dhaka yesterday fell into a ditch after hitting a roadside tree on Bogra-Rangpur Highway at Moheshpur in the upazila around 5:00am, killing 18 people and injuring 28 others.

Gautam Chandra Pal, deputy commissioner of Gaibandha, said this road is accident-prone and they have been trying to figure out the reasons.

He added they had a meeting with the roads and bridges ministry after the March 10 accidents and a probe committee was formed comprising the RHD executive engineers.

The committee made some recommendations to avoid accidents that include stopping plying of Nasiman-Karimon on the road, separate lanes for light vehicles, restricting illegal parking on the road and evicting roadside illegal establishments.

The committee also found reckless driving and high speed of vehicles behind the fatal accidents.