The National Investigation Committee has found several reasons behind the accident involving Khagrachari Paribahan and Green Express bus on the Dhaka-Khulna highway at Mallikpur in Faridpur in the early hours of last month, including defects in road infrastructure. For these reasons, the accident site has been identified as a 'black spot' or a frequent accident prone site. The committee has made a series of recommendations including fixing the structural defects of the road which has become a dead trap and recommended its implementation on an urgent basis.
The accident took place on October 15 between 3 am and 3:35 am in Mallikpur area of Kanaipur, Faridpur Sadar. Five people including the supervisor and helper of the bus were killed in the head-on collision between the two buses. All four of the deceased were passengers of the Khagrachari Paribahan bus. 25 people were injured in that incident.
Talking to the injured, it is known that 35 to 40 brick kiln workers from Shyamnagar in Satkhira were going to Dhaka by Khagrachari Paribahan bus. This accident happened on the way. Most of the passengers were sleeping. The Green Express bus was going to Jhenaidah from Abdullahpur in Dhaka.
Accident Research Institute (ARI) assistant professor of BUET is a road safety expert in the investigation committee. Armana Sabiha Haque. Armana Sabiha Haque told Ajker newspaper, 'The main reason for the accident that occurred on the Dhaka-Khulna highway in the early hours of October 15 was that the spiral curve was unsafe. The area is accident prone due to the series of S curves. In addition, the type of marking that should be done to separate the lanes on that road has not been done. We found the geometric design of the road to be unsafe. I see this mistake as the major cause of this accident.'
That section of Dhaka-Khulna highway at Mallikpur in Faridpur falls under the Directorate of Roads and Public Ways (SOAZ). According to the rules, highways are supposed to have solid white markings, so that drivers cannot change lanes. But in violation of this rule, there were white lines cut on the road. This line means the driver can change lanes with caution.
According to the report of the National Investigation Committee, wrong marking has been done on that dangerous bend of the Dhaka-Khulna highway. Besides, excessive speed of the bus, overtaking tendency of the driver, lack of proper range (traversable clearing zone) on the side of the highway are also mentioned as reasons for the accident.
According to the accident analysis report, the Khagrachari Transport bus was in its lane at the time of the accident. The Green Express bus was coming from the opposite direction and collided with the bus while changing lanes at high speed.
Dr. Armana said, 'The Faridpur accident happened on the spiral curve (S shape). These curves are already dangerous. There are broken markings instead of solid markings (spots). As a result, this part of the road has become more dangerous. It also allows the driver to make illegal lane changes. We have learned from talking to the locals that over speeding cars regularly overtake on that stretch of road. I measured the speed of the vehicles on the highway and found that the speed of the Dhaka-bound vehicles is excessive.
BUET teacher Sabiha said, the part of this terrible curve of the road was dark. Due to thick rows of trees on both sides, the light of the bus headlights is less reflected. There was no street lighting. There was no direction sign for the bend in the road. Although there was an instruction not to have any structure within 10 meters on either side of the road, it was not obeyed. This means that if a vehicle is forced off the main road, there must be enough space for it, called a traversable clearing zone. It wasn't there.
According to the report of the National Inquiry Committee, the number of seats in the 30-seater Khagrachari Paribahan bus was increased to 32. The fitness, tax token, route permit of the bus were all expired. The Green Express bus only had a route permit. The number of seats in this bus was increased from 41 to 45. The two bus drivers were not found after the accident. No driving license information was available for the two drivers.
The report also said that the seats of the Khagrachari Paribahan bus were wobbly, somehow molded. This is a significant factor behind increasing the number of casualties in accidents.
The report of the National Inquiry Committee made several recommendations to reduce road accidents. It states—
# Fitness of buses plying on highways, driving licenses of drivers should be monitored regularly.
# It should be ensured that no bus without route permit is allowed to enter the road.
#Ensure that no bus driver can drive a bus for more than 5 hours straight.
#Long distance buses should have fire extinguisher system and transport workers should be trained to use it.
Appropriate steps should be taken to ban three wheeler vehicles on #highways.
When asked about this report of the National Investigation Committee, Divisional Engineer Md. Safikur Rahman told Ajker newspaper, 'After the Mallikpur road accident, the National Investigation Committee has given several recommendations to Sawaz. We are working accordingly.'
When asked about the wrong marking on the road, he said, 'We have just received the investigation report. we are working Who is involved, what is wrong, I cannot tell in detail. Higher authorities are working on it.'
