On May 16, Tuesday, three youths, Hossain, Jobair, and Nahid, were going back home to Faridpur in the evening on a motorcycle along the Dhaka-Khulna highway.
Midway down the road, they were caught in a thunderstorm; a broken branch from a roadside tree fell on the bike, causing it to skid.
Tossed off from the vehicle, the three men fell on the highway and were run over by a truck coming from the opposite direction.
On May 8, three adolescents, aged between 16 and 18, died when a truck hit them on the same highway in Gopalganj, while going back home on a motorbike.
These two tragic incidents, just within a lapse of a week in the current month, once again force us to acknowledge the sheer magnitude of safety measures for bike riders in Bangladesh.
In both cases, the riders had infringed a law that prohibits more than two riders on a motorcycle on the grounds of safety.
Besides, although it's not clear whether the six youths had worn helmets, they might as well fall among those 88% of bikers who were not wearing helmets when they met with a road crash, as a recent study by World Bank and Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) has found.
Motorcycle crashes have increased 2.5 times over a four-year period, from 2019 to 2022, in Bangladesh, according to another recent study by the Road Safety Foundation.
One of the main reasons for this rise is to be attributed to the steadily rising number of motorcycles in the country, which, according to Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), currently shares 60% of the country's total registered motorized vehicles.
Wearing proper helmets for motorcycle riders is of prime importance because it contributes to reducing the risk of fatal injuries by an estimated 42% and non-fatal injuries at 69%.
At the same time, wearing a helmet that does not comply with the safety standard may not save one from the severe impact in the incident of a road crash.
Behaviour changes for wearing safety-standard helmets for motorcycle riders are gaining firmer ground in the country, through relentless policy advocacy and awareness campaigns from civil society and actions from the government.
That nearly 100% of riders wear helmets in the Dhaka metropolitan city is an important achievement in recent times, thanks to the heightened effort from the Dhaka Metropolitan Police. Outside Dhaka, however, the scenario of helmet-ditching behaviour largely remains the same among the riders.
Enacting safety specifications for motorcycle helmets by Bangladesh Standard Testing Institution (BSTI) is another important development. This has largely been an achievement through a campaign involving the government, civil society, and the World Bank to introduce the UN standard safe helmet in Bangladesh.
In the process of the campaign, the government had set up a working group, with BRAC as its secretariat, and tasked it with recommending a set of policy directions towards finalizing a safe helmet standard.
The working group with key members from BRTA, police, BSTI, civil society actors, importers, and dealers submitted its report with its observations.
BSTI formulated the standardization based on this report and other available expert sources. The safety standard for motorcycle helmets was gazetted by the government in October last year.
Behaviour change among riders entails a combination of a strong awareness campaign and strict law enforcement. Rigorous quality monitoring at the import level and capacity building for local-level industry production of safe helmets are also prerequisites.
Capacity building of police personnel responsible for enforcing the law on the road is crucial, too. To facilitate the process, BRAC and the World Bank are set to organize an advocacy event on May 21 during the 7th UN Global Road Safety Week in Dhaka.
With participation from the police, BRTA, BSTI, and civil society stakeholders the event will particularly focus on the issues related to the implementation of the standard helmet law.
Motorcycles are prone to the highest risk of road crashes among all motorized vehicles, owing to a combination of hazard factors. According to the World Health Organisation, nearly 30% of road deaths involve powered two- and three-wheeled vehicles.
Yet its popularity among the youths worldwide, and people in general in the low and lower-middle income countries, continues to grow as a convenient and affordable medium of transport, inevitably giving rise to road deaths and injuries.
It's a good sign that the world is increasingly becoming aware of the situation and coming up with measures to save lives. Bangladesh, as a nation, will also have to be far more responsive to curb the burden of deaths and disabilities resulting from motorcycle crashes every year.
Successful enforcement of safety standards for motorcycle helmets will help us achieve that.
Ahmed Najmul Hussain is director of the Road Safety Program at BRAC.
