Ehsanul Haque Jasim :At least eight people, including seven members of a family, were killed when a private car carrying 7 persons, including driver, was sandwiched by two speedy passenger buses at Dhamrai, on the outskirt of Dhaka city, on Saturday. Six other road accidents were also reported from several districts of the country. At least 20 people were killed in all the seven accidents.The accidents have been added with different other tragedic road accidents occurred in the recent times. Casualties on the roads and the highways are rising unproportionately for the repeated accidents. One more accidents that kill a number of people are happened everyday. Experts said that the road accident has been increased in the recent days due to reckless driving, untrained drivers, unfit vehicles, state condition of road and highways, poor traffic management and lack of public awareness. Like the previous, yesterday’s accidents also took place for the same reasons. According to the eyewitnesses, the Dhamrai’s accident took place at Bathuli Bus Stand of the upazila on Dhaka-Aricha Highway, as two buses from opposite directions hit the private car. Seven people, including three children, died on the spot, while another died in the hospital. All the seven people, killed in the crash, were the private car passengers and they are the family members. The victims were identified. They are Monwar Hossain, 34, son of Shamser Ali of Narikul village of Manikganj Sadar upazila, his wife Farida Begum, 25, their son Tawhid Miskat, 2, and daughter Taha, 4, and their relatives Dilara Begum, 35, her daughters Shammi Akhter, 5 and Ankita, and Farroque, 28, driver of the private car,Police said that a Dhaka-bound bus of Asha Paribahan collided with an Aricha-bound bus of Shohag Paribahan at Bathuli around 2:00 pm. At that time, the private car crushed with the bus of Shohag Paribahan that left the family members and their car driver dead on the spot. The death toll might rise as several of the injured were in a critical condition, the police said.Another road accident took place at Bishwa Road in city’s Khilkhet area in the morning. A youth was killed in the accident. Police recovered the body the youth. According to police, the youth was killed by the hit of a bus when he was crossing the road.In Sirajganj, at least five people, including three women, were killed and 27 others injured in a head-on collision between a truck and a bus on the western side of the Bangabandhu Bridge connecting road at Choirgati in Kamarkhanda upazila early on Saturday. One of the deceased is China Begum, 38, of Kurigram Sadar upazila, while the identity of other deceased could be known immediately. The accident took place when a Dhaka-bound bus of ‘Anik Paribahan’ from Nilphamari collided head-on with the truck coming from the opposite direction in the area at about 2:30 am, leaving the three women dead on the spot. Two others died on way to hospital. Police seized the truck. A case was filed in this connection.In Bogra, three motorcyclists were killed in two separate road accidents in Dhunat upazila and the district town in the morning. The road crash of Dhunat has taken lives of a couple. The accident took place at Sonahata Bazaar of the upazila, as a truck hit the motorcycle leaving the motorcyclist Momtajuddin (45) and his wife Shefali Khatun (35) dead on the spot in the morning. Another motorcyclist– Omar Faruk Riafat, 18, — was killed at Gohail Road in the district town when a bus hit his bike. In Sylhet, a passenger was killed when a pick-up van hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Kumargoan Bus Stand of Sylhet-Sunamganj road. The deceased was identified as Sonafor Ali, passenger of the auto-rickshaw. He is the resident of Kalarukha village of Sylhet Sadar upazila. In Tangail, a woman was killed in a road accident on Dhaka-Tangail highway at Deohata village under Mirzapur upazila. The victim was identified as Noyonbala, 60, of Kochuapara village. On more road accidents were also reported in each day of month of April. Seven people were killed in an accident in Barisal on April 16. A accident on Dhaka Barisal highway in Faridpur on April 9 had taken 25 lives and injured many severely. The accident took place due to the reckless driving.Dr. Mohammad Mahbub Alam Talukder, professor of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of BUET, on Saturday told The New Nation that the road accident rate is frightening. The roads and highways have become deadly. The number of road accident has been reduced in the beginning of 2005 due to hartal-blockade. But, the accidents and the death toll have been increased alarmingly in the recent days, he added. He blamed the authorities for the rise of the accident, as the authorities are not playing effective role in reducing the road accidents. He said that the road accident is on rise due to reckless driving by unskilled drivers, movement of unfit vehicles, poor traffic rules and some other reasons. The authorities are giving driving licenses to unskilled drivers and creating opportunities for operation of unfit vehicles, which are also reason behind the increase of the accident, he added. According to a survey of Nirapad Sarak Chai, at least 6,582 people died in road accidents across the country in 2014, marking a rise by 1,420 deaths, from the previous year’s toll. In 2013, the death toll was 5,162.
