The government has warned of stern action if motorists fail to remove illegal bumpers mounted on their vehicles by July 10.

The decision followed the tragic death last Tuesday of Dr Shajahan Ali, who was killed when his motorbike collided with a car and his leg became entangled with the back bumper.

Instead of stopping, the driver dragged the young doctor over one kilometre from Sobhanbagh to Panthapath and abandoned the vehicle in front of Samarita Hospital. The driver remains at large, although Dhanmondi police have seized the vehicle and Mohammadpur thana is investigating the case.

According to police sergeants illegal bumpers are regularly causing accidents in the city. Cases of rickshaws getting trapped by these bumpers, dragged or overturned occur daily, said a sergeant at Panthapath. There are also instances of pedestrians being hit by the exposed, toughened and unyielding steel bars fitted at front and rear of many vehicles.

Motorists pay between Tk 2,000 and 5,000 to install the illegal bumpers claiming that they protect against rickshaws, scooters and other vehicles causing damage. More than 90 per cent of vehicles in the city are fitted with such bumpers.

Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) officials said that they did not issue fitness certificates to vehicles having

such bumpers. But some years ago the government said to 'overlook' them and issue the certificates.

"We were told not to worry about the bumpers, even though we had warned the authorities about the dangers of installing such additions to vehicles," said a BRTA source at Mirpur.

Any modern vehicle is designed around the priority of saving pedestrians should they get hit, said the source. "When a vehicle hits, a modern car is designed in such a way that the victim is likely to roll up and over the car body falling behind it rather than in its path."

The BRTA source also stressed: "The manufacturers' legal bumpers are of special materials both strong and flexible, so if the vehicle hits a person, it absorbs much of the shock rather than hitting back too forcefully. With the illegal bumpers, however, a pedestrian stands little chance of surviving an accident without serious injury, if at all."

Traffic sergeants in different parts of the city said that after the July 10 deadline they will impose a Tk 1,200 penalty for ignoring the directive.

"It is already illegal under the Motor Vehicle Ordinance to install such parts onto vehicles so it will not be difficult to book the offenders under the existing law," said a traffic sergeant requesting anonymity.

"We are in fact waiting for instructions from senior authorities on how to handle the situation after the deadline is over. After all the owners of vehicles are powerful people of the city."