Motorcycle accident turns out to be as a reason for big worry right now.
The country is witnessing fatal motorcycle mishaps and many people mostly young are dying every day on roads and highways due to lack of strict monitoring by the authorities concerned.
A total of 426 people were killed and many other injured in separate motorcycle accidents in the last month this year, says a study on Monday.
The use of motorcycles is becoming increasingly popular in the country because of poor public and private transportation systems.
The sale of the two-wheelers has got momentum everywhere in the country due to the increased demand.
According to the study, Bangladesh saw at least 392 road accidents in September with motorcycles being the vehicles most commonly involved.
As many as 426 people were killed in those accidents while 813 others were injured.
Motorcycles were involved in at least 164 road accidents in September, or 42.83 percent of the total. At least 179 deaths were caused by accidents involving motorcycles, or 42 percent of the total deaths.
The Road Safety Foundation shared the information on Monday from a study based on reports from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, different electronic media and its own information.
There were 61 women and 53 children among the deaths, the foundation said. Ninety-seven pedestrians died in those accidents, which was 22.76 percent of the total toll. As many as 54 drivers and their assistants died in the accidents, or 11.67 percent of the total.
Among the dead, 25 were bus passengers, 22 were truck, pickup, tractor, or trolley riders, 24 were car or microbus passengers, 63 were riding three-wheelers like easybikes and CNG-run autorickshaws, six were passengers on local three-wheelers (Nosimon, Bhatbhati, Alamsadhu), and 10 were bicycle and manual rickshaw riders, the Road Safety Foundation said.
In its observations, the foundation said that 162 accidents occurred on the national highways, which accounted for 41.32 percent of the total accidents. Another 144 accidents took place on the regional roads, 47 on rural roads, 34 on urban streets and five in other areas.
Dhaka saw the most road accidents with 124, 31.63 percent of the total. Rajshahi Division saw 10.96 percent, Chattogram Division saw 19.89 percent, Khulna Division saw 12.24 percent, Barishal Division saw 3.82 percent, Sylhet Division saw 4.84 percent, Rangpur Division saw 10.45 percent and Mymensingh Division saw 6.12 percent of all road accidents.
In 2015, the number of motorcycle registered in the country was about 15 lakh. But a large number of motorcycles, especially in the district and upazila levels, are not registered.
Therefore, many motorbikes are still running without licences, making roads and highways more prone to disaster.
So many motorcycles on the road and highways are raising the risks of accidents as there is a direct link between the number of motorcycles and road accidents.
With the increase of motorbikes on the roads and highways, the number of fatal accident is also increasing.
Therefore, the risks related to motorcycles have become a big concern.
The two-wheeler bikers are 30 times more accident-prone compared with four-wheeler, experts warn.
The matter is now whether the roads and highways are safe or not for motorcycles, whether the vehicles are abiding by traffic rules or not, whether two-wheeler vehicles have fitness or not and whether the bikers are eligible or not.
“If the authorities cannot bring motorcycle plying on roads and highways under control, the situation will take a serious turn in coming days,” an expert said.
Apart from traffic police, the authorities concerned and local administrations will also have to take necessary measures to control the motorbike plying to prevent the deadly road crashes.
