487 people lost their lives in road accidents in the first month of the new year

In the first month of the new year, 487 people were killed and 1,194 people were injured in 559 road accidents in the country in January. Among the dead, 68 were women and 57 were children. This information was revealed in the January road accident report sent by Saidur Rahman, executive director of the non-governmental organization Road Safety Foundation, on Thursday (February 19).
The organization prepared this report based on 9 national dailies, 7 online media, various electronic media and its own information. According to the report, 68 women and 57 children were among the dead. In addition, 196 people were killed in 208 motorcycle accidents, which is 40.24 percent of the total deaths. During this period, 6 people were killed and 7 were injured in 4 boat accidents. In addition, 32 people were killed and 17 were injured in 41 rail accidents.
The vehicle-based death statistics show that 196 motorcycle drivers and passengers; 21 bus passengers; 28 truck, covered van, pickup and tractor passengers; Nine people were killed in private cars, microbuses, ambulances and jeeps; 77 in three-wheelers; 13 in locally made vehicles and 11 in bicycles.
An analysis of the accident patterns showed that 135 were head-on collisions, 209 due to loss of control, 137 due to crushing or pushing pedestrians, 72 due to rear-end collisions and 6 due to other causes. In the division-wise statistics, Dhaka division had the highest number of accidents with 143 resulting in 119 deaths. In contrast, Sylhet division had the lowest number of accidents with 18 deaths. In the capital Dhaka, 18 people were killed and 41 injured in 26 accidents.
The report cited defective vehicles and roads, reckless speeding, incompetence of drivers, lack of fixed working hours and wages, slow movement of vehicles on highways, non-compliance with traffic laws, poor traffic management, lack of capacity of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and extortion in public transport as the main causes of road accidents. The report recommends increasing efforts to create skilled drivers, fixing drivers’ salaries and working hours, increasing the capacity of BRTA, ensuring implementation of traffic laws, constructing service roads on highways, constructing road dividers, stopping extortion in public transport, developing railways and waterways, and implementing the Road Transport Act-2018.