Dhaka-Mawa Expressway is becoming an accident hotspot.
The country’s first expressway Dhaka-Mawa Expressway is gradually turning into an accident zone. Accidents often occur on this route. People are losing their lives. Vehicles are getting damaged.
Last Thursday at 11:30 pm two people were killed as a passenger minibus hit the back of a covered van on the Mawa-bound lane in the Nimtala area of Sirajdikhan. In another incident two more were killed in a collision with a passenger bus and a truck on the Dhaka-bound lane of the expressway in the Hasara area early Friday morning. At least 25 people were injured in this separate accident. On December 27 6 people from two families including women and children were killed and 4 were seriously injured when a bus ran over them at the Dhaleshwari toll plaza of the expressway. A total of 14 people have died on this road in December and this month.
Meanwhile the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway has become accident-prone causing worries among passengers. They demanded the identification of the reasons why the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway having wide roads with flyovers and underpasses along with interchanges and separate service roads for slow-moving vehicles has become an accident black spot and said strong laws have to be in place to prevent road accidents. Accidents on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway are taking place due to reckless speeding, overtaking, and random parking, among others pointed out the Highway Police. It is being said that dense fog is also the cause of some recent accidents.
Road-related sources and experts say the recent accidents on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway are due to negligence of duty by police and concerned persons. Moreover the sign-signal system of the highway constructed at a huge cost is not modern but traditional. because of dense fog, a vehicle gets into an accident, one after another comes and hits it from behind. That is what is called ‘pile-up’. For this, when the visibility is completely reduced, the movement of vehicles has to be stopped.
Highway Police said 46 accidents occurred in the Munshiganj section in 2024, killing over 50 people and injuring more than a hundred others, while at least 50 vehicles overturned, but the Fire Service said the number of accidents on this road last year was 64.
There is an 80 Kmph limit on the main expressway and 40 Kmph on the service roads running alongside, but most vehicles are flouting the prescribed speed. Speed guns of the Highway Police patrolling the highway recorded some driving at 100, some at 110 Kmph. Motorcycles are even more reckless.
Highway Police blame the accidents on the reckless speed of drivers even in dense fog. In this, the vehicles stopped on one-way roads are being pushed from behind by fast-moving buses and trucks. However, the drivers say that there is no adequate lighting system on the highway in dense fog and the number of accidents is increasing due to vehicles stopped everywhere.
Locals said, almost after every accident, it is found that the vehicle is not fit, and the driver does not have a license. These should be checked first. If these were checked first, then awareness would have increased, and accidents would not have happened.
Meanwhile, a bus driver named Humayun Ahmed said, “Most accidents occur in the cars of those who are new to this route.”. When they come to a roundabout, many people drive unpredictably. They drive even more uncontrolled on motorcycles. I get into accidents while trying to save them. And the cars and horses have some problems. Apart from that, it is not possible to make the road visible in the dense fog. This accident happens when a car suddenly stops. We can do nothing about it. We do not cause accidents intentionally.
Srinagar Fire Service Station Officer Dewan Azad Hossain says the accidents happen due to failure in switching on fog light during dense fog, reckless driving ignoring traffic regulations, negligence, sleeping while driving, racing of getting ahead of one another and stoppage of cars everywhere putting on defective car etc. So these incidents take place more in darkness, dense fog, and raining situation. He believes that all these accidents can be reduced to a minimum if the traffic laws are followed, if the drivers are trained realistically, and if the passengers are aware.
Md. Shafiqul Islam Deputy Assistant Director of Munshiganj Fire Service said, “When we go for rescue, we see the cars fully twisted. Many times we have to cut the victims out with machines. Such accidents are caused by speed. In dense fog, driving needs to be controlled and done carefully. Overtaking or overloading vehicles are not allowed.”.
Executive Engineer of Munshiganj Road Department Masud Mahmud Sumon said that in such instances, we stop the movement of vehicles before reaching the toll plaza as the visibility of the drivers’ line of view is not found. We are not letting them get into accidents. We will continue to monitor the situation with a view to averting the accident.
OC of Hasara Police Station Abdul Quader Jilani said, “There is patrolling with two vehicles every night from the toll plaza in Dhaleshwari to the Mawa area of about 29.2 kilometers. At that time, drivers are being asked to abide by traffic law and drive at low speeds. Even though they drive in front of them at a low speed, the drivers drive away from them at a reckless speed. Consequently, accidents are happening.
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