Despite the government's initiatives it has failed to stop fatal road accidents across the country.
The government has failed to prevent unauthorized vehicles, including Easy Bike (battery-run human haulers) and Nasimon (locally-made vehicles), from running on highways.
The number of fatal accidents involving three-wheelers is increasing in rural areas as they run on highways side by side with speedy, bigger and stronger vehicles.
Recently a deadly crash on the Dhaka-Rajshahi Highway left at least 17 people dead in Rajshahi. Eleven of whom were burnt to death after one of the vehicles caught fire last week.
Of the accidents, the highest number of accidents (1127) happened involving motorcycles while the number of bus was 698, truck 931, car and jeeps 410 and the rest were other types of vehicles.
The rate of bike accidents was 19 percent in 2019 while it rose by eight percentage points to 27 percent last year.
Ilias Kanchan, the Chairman of the road safety movement, revealed the information at his last press conferences citing the data of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
Ilias Kanchan said 17.53 lakh motorcycle licences were issued against 30.32 lakh registered bikes, meaning 12.79 bikers are riding without licence right under the nose of law enforcers.
Although there is positive practice of using helmets in city areas, this practice is missing in the countryside, he said, adding that use of bikes by unlicensed and young bikers as well as political activists with no regard for the law are the main reasons behind the accidents.
Talking while riding bikes are also a major reason behind accidents, he said. Imposing restriction on use of bikes by teens, and making training and licence mandatory for bikers is necessary for decreasing the number of accidents.
Lack of public transports, infrastructure, skilled and professional drivers, proper planning and awareness among people has contributed to the situation, experts said.
The number of fatal accidents involving motorbikes, particularly in the capital, is increasing due to ridesharing services, experts also said.
The accident researcher said due to absence of service lanes and alternative transports slow-moving vehicles ran on highways and accidents occurred. The authorities should introduce buses on highways for small distances to keep slow-moving vehicles off such roads.
According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police additional commissioner (traffic) that their main target was to improve the mass transport system.
"We are also trying to improve the existing bus system by fixing bus stoppages, introducing locked-door and air-conditioned buses," a police source said, adding, "The number of private vehicles should be reduced and people should be encouraged to use buses."
Then the demand for motorcycles would also go down, he observed. "We are trying our best to reduce the number of accidents and casualties," he added.
According to BRTA statistics, the number of total registered motor vehicles in the capital last year was 14.93 lakh out of which around 46 percent was motorcycles.
The total number of registered motorbikes in Dhaka was 46,764 in 2015, which increased to 53,738 in 2016, to 75,251 in 2017, to 1.07 lakh in 2018 to 1.21 lakh in 2019 and over 1.32 lakh in 2020.
