Road safety or deathtraps?
Dhaka-Paturia Highway
Photos and report by Morshed Ali Khan
When on August 13, 2011 Tarek Masud, Ashfaque Munier and three other people were killed in a road accident on the Dhaka-Paturia highway, the nation cried out for road safety. The deadly highway known as the N5 came under scrutiny. Ministers, so-called experts and noted citizens descended on the N5 to identify accident-prone spots and find remedies. Fund for the impromptu project was a secondary issue.
A barrier in the Dhaka-Paturia highway, which shows visible signs of accidents at high speed.
Within months, about 15 solidly built road dividers, between the lengths of 50 and 100 meters occupied the highway, turning it even more dangerous than ever before. For the last four years hundreds of unsuspecting motorists have crashed into the dividers, some at very high speeds. Almost all the dividers from both ends bear signs of serious damages – a telltale sign of accidents. At places up to 20 feet of these slabs bear signs of multiple crashes, clearly testifying great speed of the vehicles during the crash. Villagers along the N5 say every day, especially at night vehicles slam on the dividers. Without proper early warning signs, motorists are suddenly confronted with these heavy concrete slabs on the highway and crash.
“These dividers are scattered over 60 kilometers of the highway and you can hardly find any proper warning signs,” Shahadat Khan an engineer for a private construction company in Faridpur says, “at night they are deadlier because the few early warning signs cannot be spotted as they are written with ordinary paint —not, as it is required, with florescent paint.”
Further examples of damaged barriers in the Dhaka-Paturia highway
Superintendent of Police of Manikganj, MahfuzurRahman told reportsbd.com that faced with frequent accidents involving the dividers on the highway, his office has written to the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) urging them to immediately install reflective warning signs.
“These frequent accidents are occurring mainly due to lack of markings on both the sides of the dividers,” Rahman said.
A roadside sign mentioning that there are barriers ahead, but having no fluorescent paint to warn motorists at night.
The Executive Engineer of RHD in Manikganj, MohibulHaque said they had all the reflective markings stolen. “We put reflective stickers on all the early warning signs but they all got stolen,” Haque told reportsbd.com.
“Fatalities on the highway have however dropped after we installed the dividers but occasionally only heavy goods vehicles crash into the dividers,” Haque added.
According to BRTC statistics in 2003 alone, Dhaka Paturia single-lane highway witnessed 122 fatal accidents, killing an unspecified number of people and injuring many more. The latest figures of fatalities on the Dhaka –Paturia highway were not available.
The 75 km long Dhaka-Paturia highway is an important national highway connecting the capital with north and northwestern parts of the country, with a ferry at Paturia crossing the Jamuna.
Short URL: https://reportsbd.com/?p=703
Posted by Reportsbd
on Jun 1 2016. Filed under Home Slide, National.
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