Cumilla, March 2 -- Chattogram highway, a lifeline for the country's trade and commerce, has turned into a death trap with 152 fatalities and 137 injuries recorded in 171 road crashes between January and December last year.

Despite being one of the busiest highways in the country-stretching 163.7 kilometers from Chattogram's Alongkar area to Dhaka's Sayedabad-the highway lacks adequate safety measures to reduce accidents.

Additional Deputy Inspector General of Cumilla Highway Range Highway Police Khairul Alam told UNB that 138 cases were filed over these accidents during the same period.

Eighty-eight complaints were lodged over vehicles plying the highway and final reports of 50 complaints were submitted, he said.

Highway police, resp...