Vehicles of deathRun-down, menacingly-poised, unfit vehicles unleash a reign of terror on Dhaka roads right under law enforcers' nose
AT least one person gets killed and many more are maimed every day in the capital city in traffic accidents.
According to police, 98 percent of the accidents happen due to reckless or careless driving. The main culprits are usually the minibuses, buses and other vehicles of public transport.
According to Accident Monitoring Cell of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority and Dhaka Metropolitan Police, 377 people died in 620 accidents in Dhaka metropolitan area in 2008. Of them, 283 were pedestrians. Another 79 walkers were seriously injured.
In 2007, the total number of accidents in the city was 696 that caused deaths to 451 people. Among them, 336 were pedestrians. At least 108 people were also seriously injured.
About 60 percent of all road users in the city are pedestrians.
According to World Bank research, road accidents in Bangladesh cost the country about Tk 5,000 crore annually, nearly one percent of the GDP.
In 2009, the BRTA Accident Monitoring Cell recorded 3,381 road accidents across the country that caused 2,958 deaths and 2,223 serious injuries. In 2008, the number of accidents was 4,427 with 3,765 deaths and 2,720 grievous injuries.
According to National Institute of Traumatology, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation (NITOR), about one fifth of the injury-related admissions in Bangladesh hospitals are due to traffic accidents. About 15 percent disabilities are caused by these accidents.
According to a 2008 Accident Research Centre survey of Buet, there are 54 accident-prone spots in Dhaka city. It identified Jatrabari intersection as the most dangerous intersection in the capital.
Farmgate, Kakoli, Bijoy Sarani, Shanir Akhra intersection, Shapla Chattar in Motijheel and Purana Paltan intersection are also dangerous places.
The number of fatalities is just the tip of the iceberg. In the name of rendering transport services, all modes of public transport of the city are enjoying a free rein where they generally do not abide by the traffic laws and where they just get away with murders, as the law enforcers remain mysteriously silent about them.
Instead of the traffic police, public transport vehicles, often not road-worthy, control the traffic movement pattern in the capital.
The Daily Star brought out this special jacket to pinpoint various dimensions of traffic traumas caused by unfit vehicles and reckless driving.