The reckless driving of a coach helper filling in for a sleepy driver caused a head-on collision with another bus that left at least 12 dead and 49 injured in Taraganj of Rangpur yesterday.

The crash around 10:40am happened when the coach heading for Thakurgaon from Comilla collided with the bus heading for Rangpur from Dinajpur at Teromile area on Rangpur-Dinajpur highway.

A survivor of the coach said the passengers sensed the danger right after the helper took the steering wheel in Bogra around 5:00am and the driver went to the back to sleep.

"As the helper took the steering, many passengers protested," said Sadikul Islam, the survivor. The coach was at speed with 40 to 50 passengers inside and around 30 more on its roof, he told The Daily Star over the phone.

Some of the passengers, however, got down in Bogra and Rangpur.

The passengers started to panic seeing the reckless driving and warned the helper repeatedly, he said.

"But the warnings fell on deaf ears and rather he sped up and started overtaking many vehicles," said Sadikul, who was returning from Comilla.

He said at one stage some passengers even asked him to stop the vehicle so that they could get off and asked to see his licence.

The helper had then said he would show them the licence once they got to Taraganj.

"Just before the crash, it felt like the bus was moving without any balance and suddenly went on the wrong side of the road. We heard the bus coming from opposite direction honking," said Sadikul.

"I was like thrown out of the bus from the window," he said. He, however, suffered minor injuries.

Witnesses said the buses leapt to five to six feet up in the air after the collision.

The coach still had around 20 passengers on its roof at that time, they added.

Eight people died on the spot and five more died on their way to or in the hospital, said police.

The injured were rushed to Rangpur Medical College Hospital (RMCH) and Taraganj Upazila Health Complex.

The fate of the driver/helper of the coach could not be known.

The dead are: Jinnat Rehena Banu, 32; Chandan Roy, 35; Mohammad Ali Kala, 45; Abdul Matin, 35; Liton Islam, 34; Babul Mia, 28; Akabbar Ali, 65; Mizanur Rahman, 35; Alekh Uddin, 50; Babu, 26, said police. The identities of the remaining could not be ascertained.

Mohidul Islam, additional superintendent of highway police, told The Daily Star over telephone, "Some injured told me that they protested when the driver asked the helper to drive and went to the rear to sleep. They also asked the helper to drive slowly but he did not listen."

After the crash, locals barricaded the Rangpur-Dinajpur highway for two hours from 11:00am.

Getting assurance from the local administration of exemplary punishment for the culprits, they withdrew the blockade, reports our Rangpur correspondent.

Most drivers are least bothered about safety and they drive recklessly without almost any intervention from law enforcers on the highways.

The authorities' reluctance to punish unruly drivers, helpers and vehicle owners help recurrence of fatal road crashes in regular intervals.

There is only one instance in which a driver was punished for reckless driving and killing people.

According to World Health Organisation, more than 21,000 people die a year on the roads of Bangladesh, which takes a heavy toll on victims' families and the country's economy.

There are a number of high court directives to improve road safety but no significant improvement in road-fatality statistics has been observed.

In 2010, the UN General Assembly adopted the resolution Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011–2020) with a goal to stabilise and reduce predicted levels of road traffic fatalities around the world.

The issue has also been included in the adopted Sustainable Development Goals with a target to halve traffic deaths and injuries by 2020.

The government is visibly doing little to this end.