Highways turn into deathtraps 22 more lives lost in road mishaps on Friday [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

Highways turn into deathtraps 22 more lives lost in road mishaps on Friday

Local July 25, 2015

Yet another 22 people lost their lives in fatal road accidents across the country on Friday as the authorities fail to rein in reckless driving.
Around 110 people so far have been reportedly killed and several hundred injured in road accidents during the Eid vacation.
Former director of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology accident research institute and safety expert professor Shamsul Haque said during festival breaks, the rate of accidents increased because the volume of vehicles increased on highways and roads.
He said according to Bangladesh Police about 10 people die every day in road accidents in Bangladesh. During Eid vacations, the rate increases to 20 to 30 per day.
The Professor said most of the accidents on highways take place because of illegal and unfit vehicles, reckless driving, driving without license, unruly pedestrian movement, makeshift markets, roadside schools and vehicles of varying speed plying the highways at the same time.
The government claimed to have taken different initiatives including identifying dangerous spots, barring unfit vehicles from roads, and not to allowing auto-rickshaws on highways, but accidents continue at the same pace.
Road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader recently declared that auto-rickshaws and locally made human-haulers would be banned on highways from Aug 1 to prevent road traffic accidents.
BUET Accident Research Institute director Tanweer Hasan told New Age that about 70 to 80 per cent of the accidents take place on the country’s highways due to reckless driving,
Ilias Kanchan, chief of Nirapad Sarak Chai, an organisation campaigning for road safety, earlier told New Age the government was not sincere about stopping accidents. He put the number of death from accidents every year at 7,000.
Among the deceased on Friday, five were killed in the capital, five in a covered van-auto rickshaw collision at Gazipur, five in a bus-microbus crash at Madaripur, three in Khagrachari and two in Tangail.
At least five people, including a police constable, were killed in separate road accidents in the capital’s Shewrapara, Kuril, Jatrabari, Kafrul and Kawran Bazaar areas.
At Kawran Bazaar, a police constable, Sohel Rana, 36, was badly injured when a Mirpur-bound bus rammed into his motorcycle near the Northern University campus at Karwan Bazar around 3pm. He died later. Police seized the bus along with its driver and helper from Shewrapara area of the city.
In another incident, a pedestrian, Saiful Islam Selim, 45, was killed after being hit by a bus while he was trying to cross a road in the capital’s Shewrapara area around 8am on Friday.
New Age Gazipur correspondent reported that at least five people were killed and five others injured in covered van-auto rickshaw collision at Nawjor on Dhaka-Tangail highway in Gazipur city on Friday morning.
The four deceased were auto-rickshaw driver Saidul, 20, Shohel Mia, 30, worker of Keya cosmetics Limited, Selina Bagum, 28, and Manira Begum, 26. The identity of the dead driver’s helper could not be confirmed immediately.
Nawjor highway police outpost sub-inspector Bahar Alam said the accident took place around 8am between a Dhaka-bound covered van and Konabari-bound auto-rickshaw.
New Age Madaripur correspondent reported that at least five people were killed and seven others injured in a collision between a bus and a microbus on Dhaka-Barisal Highway in Pathuriya Para area of Kalkini upazila in the afternoon.
Emdadul Haque, officer in-charge of Kalkini Police Station, said the Barisal-bound bus of Mayer Doya Paribahan collided with the Dhaka-bound microbus on Dhaka-Barisal highway around 1pm, leaving four people dead on the spot while the other died after being taken to hospital.
New Age Tangail correspondent reported that at least two people were killed and 23 others injured after a Gaibandha-bound bus of Titas Paribahan fell into a roadside ditch at Sohagpara in Mirzapur on Dhaka-Tangail-Bangabandu setu highway early Friday.
Gorai highway police OC Humayun Kabir said the accident took place as the driver of the bus lost control over the wheels.
In Barisal, a motorbike rider, Nasir Uddin, 31, was killed and two co-passengers injured when a bus crashed into the motorbike at Gauronodi upazila in the morning. Ten others were injured in another accident.
New Age Feni correspondent reported that a passenger, Mohammad Mozammel, 40, died after he fell down from the roof of a train at Fatehpur crossing.
New Age Khagrachari correspondent reported that a soldier, Didarul Alam, 22, and two others, died in separate motorbike accidents with buses, in the district.