Of the total reported accidents in Bangladesh nearly 42 per cent fatal accidents occurred on the national highway network of around 3750 km which constitutes less than 15 per cent of total rural roads and highways in Bangladesh. Investigation revealed that significant numbers of accidents are highly concentrated at few locations. Such locations with abnormally high concentration of road accidents are identified as Hazardous Road Locations (HRL). Almost 35 per cent of total accidents on national highways are occurring only in 4 per cent of total national highway kilometrage. Studies are currently underway at the newly established Accident Research Centre (ARC) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) for identification and treatments of such hazardous road locations together with in-depth site investigations. This paper presents part of the analyses and results of the broader study on rural road accidents. The striking accident problem characteristics and road environmental deficiencies attributable to such accidents are discussed by demonstrating how safety improvements could be achieved resulting from wider application of road and traffic engineering countermeasures. The paper in particular highlights the observational findings of the on-site studies of the high accident locations and emphasises on the importance and wider applications of proven low cost countermeasures for greater improvement of national highway safety. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. 0612AR242E.
Abstract