4 major reasons behind crash

The probe committee on Manikganj road crash identified four major reasons including bad weather, speed of the bus and carelessness of the two drivers behind the accident on August 13.
However, despite finding structural flaw on the road, the committee did not blame those for the crash that killed five people including media personality Mishuk Munier and filmmaker Tareque Masud.
The three-member committee headed by Arifur Rahman, superintendent engineer of Roads and Highways Department, published the report yesterday. The department is responsible for building and maintaining the roads and highways across the country.
The report suggests that the government makes SSC the minimum educational qualification to get a driving licence.
According to the committee findings, the microbus carrying the filmmaker and the journalist was behind a pickup van at the accident scene and the pickup was obstructing the visibility of the bus driver while it was also raining.
The bus, which was speeding at 70km an hour, suddenly hit the microbus just behind the pickup.
The bus driver should have been more careful while driving in rain and the microbus driver should have maintained more distance with the pickup van, the report says.
To avoid such mishaps, the committee gave 14 recommendations to be implemented in short term and long term.
They include creating awareness among the drivers to be more careful while driving in adverse weather, obeying traffic laws, allowing drivers adequate rest between trips, conducting mobile courts, operating highway patrol, widening the existing roads, making driving licence rule stricter, conducting road safety audits, removing roadside signboard and billboard, trimming off tree branches and razing roadside bushes.
A member of the committee earlier told The Daily Star they found that the poorly maintained Dhaka-Aricha highway was too narrow at the accident spot and had incorrect road markings.
The total road width at the spot should have been 10.3 metres, standard for a straight road, but it was only 8.7 metres, he had said seeking anonymity.