Sunday, January 7, 2018
https://dailyasianage.com/news/102655/road-accident-scenario-in-bangladesh
Road accident scenario in Bangladesh M S Siddiqui Land transport is poplar due to quick communication and transportation of goods and people. It has created revolution in contemporary economic and social relations. The surface Road transport systems have become a crucial component of modernity. There has been a continued increase in the shares of passengers and freights carried by road compared to rail and water; currently over 75% of passenger and nearly 70% of freight is carried by road transport. Despite many opportunities the land transportation has some challenges. One of those is road accident. In developing countries the situation is made worse by rapid and unplanned urbanization. It has been predicted that between the year 2000 and 2020, without increased efforts, the number of road traffic deaths in high-income countries will decrease by approximately 30%; yet in low- and middle-income countries the number is expected to increase by over 80% (Kopits 2003; Peden 2004). Road traffic injuries are likely to become the third leading cause of a global burden of disease and injury by 2020 if further action is not taken (Peden 2004). Although Bangladesh is one of the lowest motorised countries in the world, it has, however, the worst road fatality rates in world. The estimated number of road traffic accident fatalities per 10,000 on road motor vehicle for Bangladesh is very high by international standards, as the fatality rates for motorized countries is usually less than 2 (2 in the United States of America and 1.4 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). "A Review Of Global Road Accident Fatalities" conducted by Jacobs and Thomas showed that the Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates in road accidents, over 40 deaths per 10,000 registered motor vehicles (Jacobs et al, 2000).Road traffic injuries alone cause a loss of about 2% of GDP in Bangladesh. It is more than the total development assistance received and thereby hindering our national economic growth. Roads of Bangladesh are extremely crowded, particularly in the cities, with bicycles, rickshaws, three-wheeled mini-taxis (CNGs), cars, overloaded buses, and trucks all vying for road space and right of way. Roads, including most major highways, are poorly maintained and often lack safe shoulders, have numerous potholes, sharp drop-offs, and barriers that are not sign-posted. Speed limits and other traffic laws are not commonly posted and are rarely observed by motorists in any case. Bangladesh has about 2 million motorized and non-motorized vehicles. It is one of the fasted growing economies in the world. Naturally demand for vehicle is very high. At the current growth the number of vehicles in the country is expected to be double in the next ten years. In terms of vehicle ownership, Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rate internationally, over 100 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles.
The principal contributing factors of accidents are adverse roadway roadside environment, poor detailed design of junctions and road sections, excessive speeding, overloading, dangerous overtaking, reckless driving, carelessness of road users, failure to obey mandatory traffic regulations, variety of vehicle characteristics and defects in vehicles and conflicting use of roads. Others include a low level of awareness of the safety problems, inadequate and unsatisfactory education, safety rules and regulations and traffic law enforcement and sanctions. The urban junctions are location of 40% accident. In Dhaka nearly 52% of all accidents occurred at only 9% of the total 200 intersections. In the rural areas about 43% of reported National Highway accidents occurred in only 5% length of National Highways. Most accidents on highways occur near market areas and intersections. Local roads crisscross the highways making the intersections accident prone zones. Roadside shops, especially the ones on corners are obstructing visibility. These characteristics clearly demonstrate that accidents are preventable with relatively lower investment at targeted and site specific locations of the roads. There are some 227 black spots in highways are identified as most accident prone. Though most accidents occur on the highways, it is not the case that the entire length of the highway is accident-prone. Bangladesh is referred in global statistics while discuss the road accident in global literature. Bangladesh Road Transport Authority's (BRTA) Annual Report of Road Traffic Accidents on the basis of reported data on road traffic accidents from Bangladesh Police. The records of Police is seriously under reported of actual situation people are habitually not go to Police station to report such incidences. Road accident analysis shows that vulnerable road users are pedestrians, bicycle & motorcycle riders and public vehicle passengers. Of the accident victims, about 45% are pedestrians, followed by passengers of light vehicles (19%) and motor-cyclists/3 wheelers (16%). Not surprisingly accident types confirm these findings: 42% of accidents are 'hit-and-run', 19% are head-on collisions and 13% due to over-turned vehicles. Power Participation Research Centre (PPRC), a research think tank analysed the accident in 2014 shows that, bulk of the accidents were concentrated within a total length of only 54.7 kilometres of the highway network. At least 8,642 people were killed and 21,855 others injured in about 6,581 road accidents that occurred across Bangladesh in 2015.The statistics of motor crush come out some direction of the accidents. Nearly 70% of road fatalities occurred on rural sections of the main highways as the metropolitan cities accounted for only about 20%. The number of reported traffic fatalities increased nearly four times over the last 25 years, 19822007. Road traffic accidents injure 400,000 people a year and kill approximately 18,500. WHO estimates that the actual fatalities could well be 20,038 each year (WHO, 2009). A survey by Centre for Injury Prevention and Research, Bangladesh (CIPRB) found that 19% of hospital beds in Bangladesh hospitals are occupied by people who have sustained an injury through a road traffic accident. National Committee to Protect Shipping, Roads and Railways (NCPSRR), an organisation campaigning for safety in the transport sector, said in a report that at least 2,297 people were killed and 5,480 injured in road accidents in the last six months (2017), a sharp rise in the death toll compared to the same period last year. NCPSRR observed that the casualties in road mishaps has increased by 18.35% and the number of accidents increased by 8.6%. The report was prepared on the basis of reports in 22 national and 10 regional dailies and eight online news portals and news agencies.
Another key concern is the belief that few victims and there is hardly any legal solution and financial compensation for the victims, especially the poor. A recent survey of 84,000 Bangladeshi households found 1% of fatal/seriously injured to have received insurance compensation. A recent study in Bangladesh found that 21% of road traffic deaths occurred to household heads among non-poor people versus 32% among poor people. Three quarters of all poor families who had lost a member to road traffic death reported a decrease in their standard of living, and 61% reported that they had to borrow money to cover expenses following their loss. Families who lose the earning capacity of members disabled by road traffic injuries and who are burdened with the added cost of caring for these members may end up selling most of their assets and getting trapped in long-term indebtedness. A study by BUET finds that each year nearly 4000 people are reported to be killed in road accidents of which 21 percent are children under 16 years of age. According to one study report of Manusher Jonno Foundation, 517 children died in 378 incidents of road accidents in 2015. The leading cause of child deaths in Bangladesh is road traffic accidents. Again, one-third of the victims are adult males of age between 21-40 years. Accident type analysis showed 'hit pedestrian' as the dominant accident type both in urban and rural areas, 45% involvement in fatal accidents. Other common accident types are: rear end collision (16.5%), head on collision (13.2%) and overturning (9.3%). These four accident types account for nearly 85% of the fatal accidents. In rural areas, accident types which are highly overrepresented in fatalities and injuries are 'hit pedestrian', 'head-on', 'running-off-the-road' and 'out-of-control' vehicles. Indeed the running-off-road accident has the highest rate of about 19 casualties per accident. In contrast of the above prediction, the ESCAP road safety target for achieving 50% reduction in Road traffic accidents (RTAs) fatalities by 2020. The vision translates to set a goal towards achieving of a 5 percent reduction in the annual number of RTA fatalities by 2020. National Highways are recommended to be the principal target of road safety initiatives of Bangladesh Government as 45% of all fatal accidents occurring on National Highways. Bangladesh has program of reshaping Service Standards of Road Network with improvement of all national highways (NH) into 4 lanes within year 2025. Construction of service lanes besides 4/6 lane highways for slow moving vermicular traffic (SMVT), construction of raid overpass on rail-road intersections along with NH, Construction of Flyovers/Interchanges in Major Intersections, Improvement of all regional Highways into 4 Lanes within 2041, improvement of national highways into expressways on priority basis. The authorities are seems reluctant about accident unless any high-profile accident have emerged. In case of any accident involving Civil, Military, Police and Media personnel are involved; the authorities became pro-active in arresting offending driver and producing an investigative report. But such alacrity is more the exception than the rule. The writer is a Legal Economist. Email: mssiddiqui2035@gmail.com