Aspects of engineering approaches to reduce speeds and speed related crashes on rural highways in Bangladesh

Excessive and inappropriate speeding of motor vehicles and risk taking behavior of road users have been shown to contribute substantial portion of accidents in Bangladesh. Adverse roadway environmental factors are also very much prevalent which are aggravating the situation. Nearly two-thirds of casualty-accidents were on rural roads and highways which are mostly undivided with significant roadside developments. Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road user group and lhit-pedestrianr crashes accounted for more than 50 per cent of fatal crashes, followed by lhead-onr, lrear-endr, lrun-off-roadr and lside-swiper crashes. Buses and trucks account for over 70 per cent of the single vehicle accidents and their share in multi-vehicle accident is around 50 per cent whereas they constitute only 9 per cent of the total registered vehicles. Operating speeds of buses and trucks appeared to excel the posted speed limits in most instances while overspeeding has been reported as the most frequent cause of accidents. iRAP infrastructure risk assessment program revealed that highways are mostly rated 2-stars or less (out of possible 5-stars) for all road users which is indicative of serious road infrastructure deficiencies and uncontrolled linear developments fronting the highways. This paper discusses the aspect of speeding and speed related crashes in Bangladesh by presenting a brief overview of road crash characteristics. The paper in particular illustrates adverse road environmental factors contributing to accidents and discusses promising road infrastructural measures that demand priority consideration in improving road safety through mitigating the problem of speeding and accident.