The number of motorcycle accidents has risen in Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country after mobile phone app-based ride sharing service was launched.
Since 2016, at least 20,000 new motorbikes have been registered every year after the ride sharing services was introduced.
More than 5,000 casualties in road accidents in the country were reported in 2019, which is an alarming rise compared to figures in the previous year.
Though these motorcycle ride-sharing services have provided some relief to the public transport crisis in the city, the number of road accidents in Dhaka has also increased since their introduction.
In 2019, deaths in road crashes in Bangladesh reached 5,227 -- 788 more people were killed compared to 2018, Nirapad Sarak Chai (We want safe roads), a non-profit organization on road safety, said in its annual report.
A total of 4,439 people were killed in road crashes in 2018 in the country.
Uber popularised ride-sharing services in Dhaka in 2016. Though it initially began by offering personal cars for taxi services, it soon branched into motorcycles. Uber Motor, Pathao, SAM, Bahon and Shohoz have also become notable names in the market.
Two persons were killed when a bus hit their motorcycle in Uttara in the capital on Friday afternoon.
Identified as two brothers--Jewel Sheikh, 40, and Liton Sheikh, 35, were killed after a bus of Abhi Enterprise hit their motorcycle around 2:45pm on Friday.
A motorcyclist was killed as a truck hit his bike in Dhaka's Fakirerpool area on January 14. The deceased was identified as Abdul Jalil, 38.
Two motorcycle riders, including a policeman, have died after the vehicle collided with a car in Chattogram's Faujdarhat on January 11.
The accident took place on the Faujdarhat bypass along the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway, according to police.
The dead men were identified as
Constable Alamgir Hossain, 28, and Shahidul Islam, 28, who were relatives from Cumilla's Burichang.
According to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority or BRTA some 53,738 motorcycles in 2016 and 75,251 in 2017 were registered.
As of August this year, 65,332 motorcycles have been registered. Each year 20,000 more motorbikes hit the roads- about 206 motorcycles per day in 2017. This year the average has risen to 320 per day.
But the motorcycles used by ride-sharing apps are often registered in districts outside Dhaka.
According to BUET's Accident Research Institute, or ARI, 53 people were killed and 19 others injured in 48 motorcycle accidents in Dhaka in 2017.
In the last three years more than 500 people were killed in motorbike accidents across the country. Many of the dead are riders for ride-sharing services or their passengers.
