The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) has called on the authorities to regulate the movement of motorcycles and ban three-wheelers from all highways to reduce the risk of accidents and maintain order on the roads during the Eid travel rush.
In a statement on Sunday, the organisation's Secretary-General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said, "If these vehicles are not regulated on the national highways this Eid, travellers may have to suffer in terrible traffic jams."
According to the organisation, 1.0 million new motorcycles have been registered in the last two years. About 2.0 million three-wheeled passenger carriers, known as Easy Bikes, have also hit the road during that period.
In total, more than 3.5 million motorcycles and about 4.0 million Easy Bikes are currently operating on the roads, which has led to an "almost 50 per cent" increase in traffic congestion in the country, Mozammel said.
The PWAB estimates that about 1.2 million people will make long-distance journeys on motorcycles from Dhaka and its surrounding districts during the festive travel period.
Additionally, about 4 to 4.5 million homebound travellers will hire motorcycles from inter-district ride-hailing services. Up to 2.5 million motorcycles will be running on national highways ahead of the Eid holidays.
"Accidents often happen when people travelling with their families and luggage on motorcycles recklessly try to race ahead of buses and cars on the highways."
Last year, 323 people were killed and 622 injured in 316 road accidents during Eid. Of these crashes, 144 involved motorcycles and left 139 people dead and 199 injured. In other words, motorcycles made up 45.28 per cent of all road accidents and 43.3 per cent of fatalities in 2021.
"This Eid, the number of motorcycle passengers will be three times higher than at any other time in the past. It can also triple the risk of accidents. If effective measures are taken to control the movement of motorcycles, then it is possible to reduce accidents by 50 per cent this Eid. ”
As there are no service lanes on many national highways, more than 1.5 million Easy Bikes, rickshaws and autorickshaws could descend on them to transport Eid holidaymakers.
These small vehicles can slow down long-haul buses and cars and lead to traffic jams at important junctions. They can snarl traffic at intersections and bus stops, increasing the risk of accidents in the process.
According to a BUET study, 3 million people will leave Dhaka every day to spend the Eid holidays at their village homes. But about 1.4 million of them are likely to put their lives at risk by travelling on the roofs of trains, buses and launches.
