Comparative accident study on three selected national highways in Bangladesh

Abstract

A developing country like Bangladesh is now experiencing a serious road safety crisis and is predicted to worsen in the coming years. Road accidents occur mostly on national highways and the victims of road accidents are predominantly pedestrians (about 48%), rural people who are ignorant of road crossing rules as well as young children. Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Aricha national highways are very important which are more vulnerable to danger. Accident comparisons on these three national highways are done in this study. This study is conducted seven years accident data from 2000 to 2006 on Dhaka- Chittagong (N-I), Dhaka-Sylhet (N-2) and Dhaka-Aricha (N-5) national highways. Accident per kilometer on Dhaka-Aricha national highway is 1.84 times more than Dhaka-Chittagong and 3.4 times more than Dhaka-Sylhet national highway. Accident fatalities on Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Aricha national highways are 69%, 74% and 64% of total accident respectively. Accident involved due to large bus is about 29%, 32% and 38% and trucks are about 40%, 28% and 30% on Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka-Sylhet and Dhaka-Aricha national highway respectively. Maximum accidents are observed on Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka- Aricha national highway is 12% and 19% respectively in between 10.00 A.M to 12.00 P.M. on the other hand 16% on Dhaka-Sylhet national highway in between 16.00 P.M to 18.00 P.M. Accidents observed more on rural areas over urban areas which are about 89%, 88% and 91% of total accidents on Dhaka-Chittagong, Dhaka- Sylhet and Dhaka-Aricha national highways respectively. Average daily traffic of Dhaka-Chittagong national highway is around 2.3 times more than Dhaka-Sylhet and 1.7 times more than Dhaka-Aricha national highway. Small buses and trucks are about 38% of ADT for Dhaka-Chittagong and Dhaka-Arieha and 49% of ADT for Dhaka-Sylhet national highway. Trucks involved in accident are comparatively more over other vehicles on three national highways which are around 29%. Accident and casualty occur significantly more on selected site and node on Dhaka-Chittagong and than flowed by the selected other site and nodes on Dhaka-Aricha, Dhaka-Sylhet national highways.