'Easy bikes' make others feel uneasy on streets
They often run without any headlight at night
A battery-run easy bike plying a road in Thakurgaon town without headlight at night, ignoring risk of an accident anytime.Photo: STAR
Battery-run three-wheelers, locally called easy bikes, often ply the district town and nearby highways without any headlight during night, making them vulnerable to serious accidents. The easy bike drivers run the vehicles without headlight to save power and have more mileage with the same battery charge while but the traffic policemen turn a blind eye, said the people concerned. Observing the situation in the evening and night during the last several days, this correspondent saw that almost all the easy bikes in the town run without headlights and often ignore repeated requests of passengers in this regard. "About a month ago I received injuries at Art Gallery Moar in the town when my motorbike collided head-on with an easy bike at night as failed to see the vehicle that was plying without headlight," said Ataur Rahman, principal of Thakurgaon Business Management and Technical College. "An easy bike carrying us collided head-on with a passenger bus at Duramari Kandar on Thakurgaon Station Road two weeks ago as it was running without headlight at night. We luckily survived as the bus was able to check its speed with a hard break. The easy bike driver had ignored our repeated request to put on the light," Mostafizur Rahman of Asrampar in the town said. Demanding restriction of plying of easy bikes on highways, truck driver Shah Jamal said, "Highways vehicles often run 70 kilometres or more and so, it is very tough to control the speed after sudden appearance of easy bikes that ply without headlight." Asked about the reason for not using headlight at night, Md Jahangir, an easy bike driver of Thakurgaon Station Road area, said additional 10 kilometres can be covered with the same battery charge if the headlight is kept off. "Tk 500 is to be paid to the bike owner per day and Tk 80 is needed to charge the battery of the vehicle overnight. Excluding expenditure, a driver can earn Tk 200/300 per day," said Md Johurul Islam, an easy bike driver of Thakurgaon Pally Bidyut area. When contacted, police Sergeant Md Faruk said, "We always supervise the matter and oblige the drivers to run vehicles with headlight. We also fine and seize the vehicle if it plies without headlight." He, however, could not inform how many vehicles were fined or seized in last one month.
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