Bangabandhu expressway has many safety lapses: ARI

Bangabandhu Expressway (Dhaka-Bhanga highway) saw a total of 264 fatalities in 22 accidents in nine months from June 2022 to March 2023. This means, about one fatality took place on the expressway every day. The expressway has many safety lapses and needs an urgent Road Safety Audit.

“That essentially suggests that only construction of high standard capital-intensive infrastructure is not enough to ensure safe mobility, there is a need for matching expressway worthy fit vehicles, competent drivers, standard road safety devices/furniture and most importantly well enforced safe and disciplined traffic operating conditions,” observed a report done by Accident Research Institute of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET).

ARI on Sunday published the investigation report of the tragic road accident that killed 19 people at Kutubpur area of Madaripur’s Shibchar upazila Bangabandhu Expressway (Dhaka-Bhanga highway) on 19 March.

The report said tyre burst could be the most plausible cause of the fatal road crash and overspeeding, fatigue or drowsiness of the bus driver, mechanical or brake failure were not likely to blame for the tragic incident.

Overspeeding was widely blamed for the crash, but the report said it finds no direct link since the driver maintained a steady speed below 90 kmph and the speed was 79 kmps before the accident assessing the Event Data Recorder (EDR) of the crashed bus of Emad Paribahan.

Presenting the report, ARI’s director professor Shamsul Hoque identified absence of guardrails as one of the major reasons for such a big number of casualties in the accident.

“We have recommended safety audit as we have identified many lapses in the expressway. We have built an expressway but unfortunately some inconsistencies are there that should have been avoided,” he added.  

The investigation report said infrastructural deficiencies mainly led to so many fatalities and severe injuries during the crash.

“Even though crashes cannot be prevented, fatalities could be prevented with very low- cost but highly effective countermeasures,” the report observed.

Shamsul Hoque said tyre burst has become a major reason for accidents but Bangaldesh has no protocol to test the quality of tyres.

“BSTI needs to be equipped with both destructive and non-destructive testing facilities for checking the quality of imported tyres and tyre-related components,” Shamsul Hoque recommends.

He also urged all to consider road accidents as a multifactorial hazard instead of putting all the blame on drivers.

Those who work in planning stage and consultants of road construction are also to blame, it added.

The recommendations in the report include: BRTA should instruct all vehicle owners to install tracking devises, highway police should ensure disciplined operation of expressways and enforce proper vehicle lane position, and the authorities should work on capacity building of BRTA and the highway police.

“It would be highly regrettable if this field proven safe expressway gradually became hazardous and failed to improve the safety situation in Bangladesh We have to remember that there is no better countermeasure than the expressway for providing faster mobility and the highest level of safety,” the report concluded.