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Speeding on a rain-soaked slippery road was the key reason behind the deadly accident on the Dhaka-Bhanga Expressway in Shibchar of Madaripur that left 19 people dead, finds a probe committee.
Fatalities could be lesser if there were seatbelts for passengers, the probe committee said and recommended making it mandatory for long-haul buses to install passenger seatbelts like cars.
It also called for using soft materials for the bus interior and keeping sufficient legroom for the passenger to reduce casualty.
The probe committee also recommended widening the expressway to both sides as the expressway does not have guard rails on both sides which can bar an uncontrolled vehicle from falling into a ditch.
Madaripur Additional Deputy Commissioner Pallab Kumar Hazra led the four-member probe committee that also came up with a set of recommendations to reduce such fatal accidents on the expressway where drivers have a tendency of speeding violating the speed limit. The committee submitted their findings to their higher authorities on Tuesday.
The report also said that the fitness certificate of Dhaka-bound Emad Paribahan was expired, and its driver did not have a professional license to operate heavy vehicles. Besides, the road was slippery due to the rain.
However, the committee was not sure whether the accident happened after one of the tires of the bus had burst.
The Dhaka-bound bus smashed through the expressway fence and plunged into a ditch on Sunday morning.
The probe report says that during that day’s trip, the bus violated the speed limit several times. But when it went out of control, the driver tried his best to avoid an accident.
Buses like this one operate recklessly on the expressway as law enforcers do not deploy enough manpower with speed guns.
That bus’s registration was cancelled after it faced an accident in Gopalganj in November last year. It also had an expired fitness certificate. Despite that, the company operated the bus on the highways.
The driver was not qualified enough to operate long-haul buses. The bus may have skidded off due to speeding on the rain-soaked slippery road.
It recommended installing CC TV cameras, and GPS tracking systems to monitor the vehicles by its companies.
To provide quick treatment for the accident victims, the committee recommended setting up hospitals, and trauma centres along the expressway. If the bus companies can keep the information of passengers on every trip, it would be easy to identify them later, the report said.
