A rights body on Friday called upon the government to properly implement the rules for compensating the road accident victims following the Road Transport Act-2018.
The Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) also said there has been no comprehensive progress about the road safety issues in accordance with the ruling party's electoral manifesto.
They came up with the appeal and observations at a press conference styled as 'Compensating the road accident victims and enabling national road safety council' held at the Shishu Kalyan Parishad Auditorium in the city's Shegunbagicha area marking the National Road Safety Day today (Saturday).
An assistant professor at ARI Saifun Newaz, senior journalist Aby Syeed Khan, PWAB secretary general Mozammel Haque, its Vice President Tawhidul Huq, and joint general secretary Monirul Huq spoke at the conference, among others.
Mr Mozammel Haque said for want comprehensive measures on the government's side, a number of lives perish in roads every day.
Some 23,360 people die and 0.35 million others get injured every year due to road accidents in the country, he said, quoting references from different sources.
He said mostly the working people are becoming victims to the road accidents which impact the national economy as a well as their dependant families.
A research of Accident Research Institute (ARI) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) revealed that financial losses due to road accidents in the country in the last three years were estimated at Tk1.09 trillion, he said.
There are rules to compensate the family of and dead victim (of an accident) with Tk0.5 million and an the family of an injured victim with Tk 0.3 million as per the Road Transport Act 2018, he said adding the rule has not come to the effect though the law has been functional for three years.
He also called for making the national road safety council functional to help reduce loss of lives and money.
A number of road accident victims shared their experiences and views at the conference.
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