In January, 546 people were killed and 1,204 injured in road accidents across the country, according to the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.
The association published a report after analysing data on the accidents reported in various media outlets. A press release signed by its secretary general, Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury has been issued on Sunday.
Its accident monitoring cell said that 552 road accidents occurred last month. In addition, 37 railway accidents left 33 dead and 28 injured, while eight waterway accidents killed seven, injured six, and left three missing.
The release said that a total of 597 accidents took place across road, rail, and waterways, resulting in 586 deaths and 1,238 injuries last month. During this period, 209 motorcycle accidents accounted for 37.86 percent of all accidents. These incidents caused 223 deaths and 132 injuries, representing 40.84 percent of total fatalities and 10.96 percent of total injuries.
According to the report, Dhaka division witnessed the highest number of road accidents in January, with 132 cases, while Sylhet division had the lowest, with 29. In Dhaka, 133 people were killed and 328 injured, while in Sylhet, 28 were killed and 63 injured.
Among the victims of road accidents were 15 members of law enforcement agencies, 131 drivers, 89 pedestrians, 53 transport workers, 79 students, nine teachers, 62 women, 67 children, four doctors, four journalists, one freedom fighter, and 11 political activists.
The identities of 829 vehicles involved in accidents were recorded. Of these, 28.46 percent were motorcycles, 23.64 percent trucks, pickups, covered vans, and lorries, 14.35 percent buses, 13.63 percent battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes, 5.54 percent CNG auto-rickshaws, 9.04 percent locally made vehicles such as Nosimon, Korimon, Mahindra, tractors, and Lagunas and 5.30 percent cars, jeeps, and microbuses.
Analysis of accident types showed that 42.57 percent occurred on national highways, 27.89 percent on regional highways, and 24.09 percent on feeder roads. Additionally, 4.52 percent of accidents occurred in Dhaka city, 0.54 percent in Chattogram city, and 0.36 percent at railway crossings.
The Jatri Kalyan Samity attributed these accidents to weaknesses in transport sector policies and strategies, uncontrolled movement of battery-powered rickshaws, motorcycles, CNG auto-rickshaws, and Nosimon/Korimon vehicles on highways, lack of road signs and markings, absence of streetlights, sudden entry of vehicles from feeder roads onto highways, lack of medians or dividers, blind curves caused by roadside trees, construction flaws, vehicle defects, disregard for traffic laws, wrong-way driving, extortion on roads, passenger transport in goods vehicles, unskilled drivers, unfit vehicles, overloading, and reckless speed.
To prevent road accidents, the Samity made 14 recommendations, including adopting policies and strategies from developed countries, training skilled drivers, ensuring vehicle fitness through digital systems, introducing traffic law enforcement via CCTV cameras, building service lanes and footpaths on major highways, stopping extortion, ensuring drivers’ wages and working hours, providing pedestrian crossings, and installing road signs and markings.
