Experts believed the new administration will be capable of bringing the number of road and highway accidents significantly as there has been an alarming rise in road accidents over the past few years.
The lack of proper supervision, misuse of administrative power of some influential people and lack of people's awareness were the major reasons behind the high number of fatalities in road crashes.
Law enforcement agencies have been reporting death in 'road accidents' almost every day. A woman and two minor boys were killed in separate road accidents in Netrakona and Chapainawabganj districts on Sunday morning.
The new road transport law introduced specific guidelines on the minimum age and academic qualifications of drivers, number of vehicles on a particular route, working hours for drivers and helpers of buses, trucks, covered vans and other transport vehicles, compensation for road crash victims, emergency helpline, and more
In 2016, the number of road accidents was 2,316, which grew to 3,349 in 2017. Last year, the number of road accidents was around 3,200 - according to the survey based on reports published in mainstream newspapers.
A number of transportation experts believe that reckless drivers are the core reason behind the staggering number of road accidents in the country.
"Heavy traffic jam in the city makes the transport workers more reckless as they fail to make targeted number of trips because of traffic jam, making drivers more aggressive as gridlock cuts down their income," they added.
A growing number of motorcycles, says a new survey of Nirapad Sarak Chai (Nischa). "The growing number of motorcycles is mainly responsible for the sudden rise in accidents."
Ilias Kanchan earlier said media that claimed that many underage bikers are careless on the road and speed recklessly, often causing accidents after losing control. "That's why the number of accidents is on the rise," he said.
He said a growing number of unskilled drivers of CNG-run auto-rickshaws, easy bikes and other three-wheelers also contribute to frequent road accidents.
Kanchan said that a flawed transport system, mismanagement of owners, lack of monitoring, weak traffic management, lack of awareness among people, reckless speeding, poor road construction, lack of political will and lack of proper implementation of law are the other reasons behind road accidents.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the number of motorcycles saw an approximately threefold increase -- from 7 lakhs to 22 lakhs - in two years (2016 to 2018). The number of deaths in road crashes was 4,144 in 2016, 5,645 in 2017, and 4,000 in 2018 according to the survey.
Among the deaths in 2017, the survey said, 27 per cent were motorcycle riders. Among the 15 deaths caused by road accidents in Dhaka city in the last two months, seven were motorcycle riders.
