Speed breakers on highways slow economy

The distance between the third Buriganga bridge and the small town of Kalatia, by the river Dhaleshwari in the outskirts of the capital is hardly 12 kilometers.  On this short stretch, 33 speed breakers, some up to two feet high, have been built by villagers trying to tame reckless driving.  To add to this, more of these speed breakers are in the offing.
The scenario on the Kalatia road is nothing but a vivid legacy of lawlessness on our roads and highways across the country.  The Kalatia road is used by thousands of commuters everyday, from the phenomenally growing urban areas of Keraniganj.  Every locality along the narrow asphalt road has taken its own initiative to build the speed breakers just to slow down the reckless drivers. The authorities remain quiet on this issue.
“We have no other option,” says Zahir Ahmed, a resident of Bhawal along the road, who was recently found directing the masons to build a hump in front of his residence. “Wait here for a minute and see how the CNG three wheelers and other vehicles speed past.”
The association of the CNG three wheelers, operating from Kalatia to various destinations in the capital, is not amused.
“These speed breakers are killing our work time, causing damage to the vehicles and drastically increasing fuel consumption,” says Mohammad Quamrul Islam, owner of a CNG three-wheeler.
Taking advantage of the lack of restraint, business houses along the road have also built speed breakers in a bid to attract passing customers.
“There is nobody to tell the drivers to respect the speed limit and there is none to tell people not to make a structure on the road,” said Joinal Abedin, a resident of Kalatia.
Roads and Highways Department (RHD) officials, in charge of maintenance of the roads ran a joke about the indiscriminate building of the speed breakers.
“What happens when someone dies in a road accident?” Asked an official. “A speed breaker comes up on the spot,” he whispered back ironically.
The same official said they were somehow helpless about the situation. Sometimes the local lawmakers and political leaders ask the authorities to build speed breakers to tame reckless motorists.
“These speed breakers cause phenomenal loss to our national economy,” said a RHD engineer requesting not to be named. “Every time a driver slows and negotiates a speed breaker the fuel consumption goes up, he loses work hours and damage is caused to the suspension of the vehicle,” he added.
In a recent move, the RHD removed dozens of speed breakers from the 45-kilometer long Dhaka-Mawa highway.  Earlier about 50 speed breakers had been laid on the stretch.
“Traditionally we have a tendency to build bazaars along the highways and this is the main cause for fatalities on the roads,” the official said.
In fact, the road transport sector is one of the most unruly sectors in the country. Most drivers and workers are unaware of the rules and what is most obvious is that they have little respect for the law enforcers.
“When things fail to operate properly people take up the law into their own hands and indiscriminate building of speed breakers on our highways are an outcome of our own doing,” said the RHD engineer.
By Morshed Ali Khan

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Posted by Reportsbd on Mar 1 2015. Filed under Home Slide, National, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry