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Jamuna Bridge approach road a death trap

1,450 killed in 10yrs

Our Correspondent, Tangaii
The highway from Jamuna bridge to Mirzapur in Tangaii has become a death trap due to widespread violation of traffic rules and insufficient space for movement of large number ofvehicles.
At least 1,450 people were killed and over 3,000 people were injured in about 1,200 road accidents on the highway after the inauguration of the Jamuna bridge in 1998, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and police sources said.
Violation of traffic rules, plying of unfit vehicles, carrying passengers on the roof of vehicles, insufficient space for vehicular movement, inefficient drivers and reckless driving are the main reasons behind the increase in road accidents on the highway, they added.
At least 10 people mostly rickshaw-pullers travelling by a fertiliser-laden truck were killed
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yesterday as the truck plunged into a ditch by the highway at Pouli in Kalihati upazila after the driver lost control over the vehicle.
On April 19, at least 18 people were killed as a bus skidded off the highway and fell on the nearby railway track at Hatia.
Just three days before the accident. about 17 cloth traders were killed in a collision between a bus and a train at Rajabari rail crossing.
Earlier, 20 people were killed as a bus plunged into the Pouli river breaking the railings of the Pouli bridge in Kalihati upazila on April 24,2005
Besides, about 21 day-labourers were killed after a cement-laden truck carrying them swerved off the highway and fell into a ditch at Ashekpur the same year.
The Jamuna bridge was inaugurated on July 23, 1998. Since then around 5.000 vehicles including buses and trucks have been crossing it to and from 16 northern and five southwestern districts every day.
Although highway police had been deployed to ensure safety on the highway, there are allegations that they do not perform their duties properly, Tangail transport owners' association sources said.
Highway police sources, however, told The Daily Star that the accidents are on the rise on the highway, as it is not wide enough for the movement of huge number of vehicles.
There have been allegations that although drivers run vehicles recklessly on the highway flouting traffic rules, no actions are taken against them most of the times.