According to the traffic department, duty hours of the traffic police end at 10:00pm and then the traffic mechanism solely relies on the traffic signals.

"The traffic police officers work in three different quarters each day; the first quarter starts at 6:00am and the last one ends at 10:00pm," said captain Mahbub, public relations officer of DMP. "Occasionally, the duty hours may stretch up to midnight, especially when the traffic conditions are really intense," added Mahbub.

With the absence of any traffic policing, the late night traffic are left in disarray in the city's main thoroughfares with hundreds of bulky trucks and other heavy commercial transports relentlessly racing with each other.

"They (lorry and bus drivers) seem to be liberated from any traffic regulations and drive as if the streets belong to them," said Sadeque Hossain, a traffic sergeant.

Most of these heavy vehicles are inter-district lorries and night coaches transporting goods and passengers to and from the capital. Fleets of lorries can also be seen carrying construction materials across the metropolis.

To make matters worse, hundreds of rickshaws peddle their way across the main roads.

Long queues are seen on almost all the major city thoroughfares in Mirpur Road, VIP Road, Panthapath, Gabtoli, Shayamoli, Moghbazar, Rampura, Mohakhali, Shahbagh, Mouchak and other points after nightfall with countless heavy vehicles lining up.

"I face serious traffic congestion every night at Manik Mia Avenue intersection, Russell Square, Dhanmondi road 27 and on the Mirpur Road between 10:30pm and 11:00pm on my way back home from my office at Gulistan," said Mizanur Ahsan, a resident of Dhanmondi.

"It takes almost an hour to ease the tailback as there are no traffic police available after 10:00pm," added Ahsan.

Heavy lorries, buses and pickups were seen heedlessly running along the Airport Road leading to Tongi and beyond, and the road to Aricha at breakneck speed without any concern towards the traffic signals and what they are leaving behind in their wake.

Traffic officials blamed the policy of allowing trucks and other heavy transport vehicles to enter the city before 8:00pm for the unruly traffic situations after nightfall.

"Hundreds of trucks wait at the city's entry points for hours and enter the city at the same time, creating an chaotic rush of traffic," said Jahurul Haque, traffic inspector of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

According to Haque, an effective solution to this problem could be the construction of bypass roads to ease pressure from the key entry points of the city.

"Bypass roads would certainly make things better by easing the flow of traffic at the entry points. With bypass roads available for use, vehicles to Narayanganj from Gazipur would not need to enter the city's main roads," said Haque.