The reality is that the number of casualties, particularly injuries, is far greater than what the authorities claim and is sharply rising every year.

The traffic department and the BRTA officials blamed reckless driving, unfit vehicles, and bad roads with wrong road signs account for most road accidents but admitted being 'helpless' about the situation. The Minister for Communication, Nazmul Huda told The Daily Star that lack of enforcement of the existing laws is the main cause behind the 'undesirable situation' on the roads.

"When the police stop a vehicle on the road, we all know it is not for implementing the laws but to do other things. We cannot expect any discipline on the roads unless the law enforcers start doing their jobs properly," said Nazmul Huda.

"Time and again road safety issues have been discussed and many directives have been sent out to the police and the local administrations across the country but unfortunately nothing has changed," the communications minister said.

In fact, the country's 20,800 kilometres of highways are fraught with anarchic and dangerous conditions at any time of the day. Nighttime driving poses the most danger, with most vehicles, particularly, trucks and buses having no control switches for their beams. In addition, many drivers do not care to lower beams for oncoming vehicles, and thousands of trucks have fitted their vehicles with additional lights that virtually blind the drivers of oncoming vehicles. There are also hundreds of vehicles with only one light.

While the official speed limit has been set at 60 kilometres per hour, buses, trucks and other vehicles wilfully defy the speed limit. According to a top official of the Ministry of Communication, there is no recorded instance in the country of a driver being booked for reckless driving. He said that prosecution only takes place when the driver has had a fatal accident.

BRTA officials admitted that more than ninety percent of the drivers' licences in the country are fake. At the BRTA office in Mirpur gangs of youths openly operate and 'sell driving licences.' Most drivers are ignorant of road signs and try to overtake other vehicles on dangerous bends, risking not only the lives of their own passengers but also others using the same road.

According to an investigation by The Daily Star, transport companies also force their drivers to engage in reckless driving by creating timetables for arrival that require their drivers to rush. For instance, most transport companies in Dhaka promise to take passengers to Rajshahi, 270 kilometres away, in four and a half hours. This means that the driver has to maintain an average speed of 60 kilometres per hour. Considering human activities, such as bazaars and non-mechanised vehicles on our national roads, it is impossible to maintain such an average speed unless the driver takes huge risks by speeding whenever he can. And most of the 63,981 buses and minibuses plying on the national roads do invariably take risks. Interestingly, all leading transport companies in Dhaka promise to take passengers to Chittagong, 264 kilometres away, in four hours. Here the driver is expected to maintain an average speed of more than 60 kilometres per hour -- a blatant violation of the official speed limit.

Most of the country's 51, 375 trucks are old and unfit for roads, BRTA sources said, adding that these trucks are invariably overloaded and therefore break down more often. Chairman of the BRTA, Faruque Ahmed said that they have even discovered that some garages rent out new tyres, lights and other parts to vehicle owners just before the vehicles are brought into the BRTA office for fitness certificates.

Four years ago the government borrowed Tk 44 crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and completed building five computerised Vehicle Inspection Centres (VIC) in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna and Rajshahi. Since 2001 the five VICs are lying idle for mysterious reasons. According to BRTA sources, vested groups operating in the BRTA and in the transport sector are preventing the authorities from starting the VICs, which if operated, would disqualify thousands of faulty vehicles from plying our roads. BRTA officials however said that they were again trying to start the VICs with another loan of Tk two crore from the ADB.

One of the most dangerous elements on our roads is the existence of humps or speed breakers that lack any warning signs or markings. Local people, trying to prevent speeding through their towns or villages often set up these unauthorised humps. Any road user not familiar with the road faces risks of a serious accident.

In numerous small villages and towns along the highways the Roads and Highways Department has built concrete walls on both sides of the road to make "bus bays." The walls separate the local traffic from the main road and also make separate room for loading and unloading of local buses, with the idea of keeping the main road free. But total lack of enforcement has encouraged grabbers. Now, shops have been set up in the R&HD's "bus bays," some used for rickshaw and tempo parking and some for truck terminals. Local buses load and unload on the narrowed highway, blocking the main thoroughfare. The Chief Engineer of the R&HD, SK Rabiul Islam however denied having any knowledge about such 'bus bays' saying, "I will have to inquire with my offices before commenting on it."