Staff Reporter :
At least 10 persons were injured when a speedy passenger bus turned turtle and smashed a passing by private car in the city on Friday afternoon.
The accident took place in one of the city’s widest roads near Institute of Engineers, Bangladesh (IEB) ,which is also known as a VIP Road adjacent to junctions of Matsya Bhaban and Ramna Park.
The bus driver and the passengers were taken to Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) following the accident.
Of the injured, the condition of bus passenger Nazma Akhter and driver of the car Joynal Abedin Faruk was stated to be critical.
Police detained the bus driver after the accident.
“The bus of ‘Shikar Paribahan’ was going to Jatrabari from Pallabi of Mirpur. A private car suddenly came in front of it and took a U-turn near the IEB. The driver tried to stop the bus applying hard brake to avoid a collision,” Sub-Inspector Mujahidul Islam said.
“But he ultimately lost control of the steering
resulting in the accident . The bus overturned and fell on the private car. Both the vehicles have been badly damaged.”
A case has been filed with concerned police station in this connection. The damaged car and the bus have
been taken to the Ramna police station for further investigation.
Meanwhile, accidents of motor vehicles have been increasing at an alarming rate across the city due to lack of necessary precautions and inadequate implementation of law.
Although there is no exact number of road accidents in the city or accurate figure of causalities in the Police Headquarter, the concerned circle assume that the number might be a dozen per day.
A study conducted by K. M. Maniruzzaman and Raktim Mitra of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at BUE said Bangladesh has a very high road accident fatality rate with official figures indicating more than 60 deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles.
“Each day around eight persons die in road accidents. The actual rate of fatality is likely to be even higher,” the study said.
Admitting the fact, a senior official of DMP Traffic Department told The New Nation yesterday, “At present, I can’t provide you latest data and information on accidents. But it is increasing no doubt.”
He said, ” The bad condition of roads, unskilled drivers and lack awareness of the people can be blamed for the increasing rate of accidents. Besides, illegal parking beside the roads, careless movement of pedestrians, rampant road crossing and vehicles without fitness as some of the causes of increasing road accidents. Road discipline is a must as more vehicles hit the road. Otherwise, the number of accidents will increase.”
