Highway becoming death trap
Fatal accidents on increase on road between Mirzapur and Bangabandhu Bridge
Around 1,500 people have been killed and three thousand others injured in nearly 1,200 road accidents on the highway between Mirzapur and Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge since opening of the bridge in 1998.
Over one thousand of the injured have become physically disabled, said sources at Tangail police superintendent's office referring to the causality data.
Number of causalities on the highway is on rise as reckless driving and traffic rule violation has become commonplace on the two-way road which is too inadequate for the large number of vehicles plying the highway, said experts.
Risky bridges, absence of patrol by law enforcers and lack of trauma and medical emergency facilities add to the casualties, they said.
The highway has to take load of a large number of passenger and goods carrying vehicles that ply 16 routes of northern region and five routes of south-western region, said sources in traffic department.
In 1998, the inauguration of Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge and the two-lane highway helped direct road communication between the capital and northern districts of the country.
Further development of road communications between the south-western region and Dhaka via the Bangabandhu Bridge led to heavy traffic on this highway.
Tremendous increase in traffic over the years leads to increased number of head-on collision on the highway, said observers.
Besides, frequent traffic rule violations including reckless driving, crossing speed limits, overloading of goods carrying vehicles, carrying passengers on the roof of buses and plying of unfit vehicles contribute to the rising trend in accidents on the highway, said sources at local road transport authority office.
A section of callous drivers hardly care for traffic rules on the highway as their crimes always go unpunished, said several locals adding that highway patrol police do not perform their duty properly.
Abdur Rouf Sandesh, former president of Tangail District Bus-Coach Owners' Association, admitted that reckless driving is the main cause of frequent causalities on this highway.
Several dilapidated bridges on different locations of the highway make the road even more risky.
Passengers who frequent this road demanded that the authorities ensure safety of passengers by taking stern action against the unruly drivers while the drivers stressed the need for increased lanes for safer operation of vehicles on the highway.
"The authorities are concerned about the rise of accidents on the highway. There should be two more lanes to check accidents on the busy road. The matter was discussed in the meeting of Dhaka Division in the capital last week,” said Tangail Deputy Commissioner M Bazlul Karim Chowdhury.
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