12,000 people die in road accidents every year
Thursday, 22 November 2007
About 10,000 to 12,000 people are killed in road accidents every year in Bangladesh of which about 75 per cent fatalities occur in rural areas, experts at a workshop Wednesday said, reports UNB.
Accident Research Centre (ARC) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) organized the two-day workshop on 'Road Safety in Bangladesh: Constraints and the Way Forward' at BUET's Council Building. Inaugurating the workshop as chief guest, LGRD Adviser Mohammad Anwarul Iqbal emphasized on concerted efforts of all concerned agencies, research institutes, NGOs, policy makers, transport operators and mass media to contain road fatalities across the country.
Adviser Iqbal said Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates for road accidents, a rate which is higher than 160 deaths per ten thousand motor vehicles on road every year, compared to 2 per cent in USA and 1.4 per cent in UK. He said together with social impact in terms of pain, grief and suffering, there is serious economic burden and in current prices, road accidents in Bangladesh are costing the community nearly Tk 50 billion (about 2 per cent of GDP) per annum.
Some 70 to 80 per cent of the accidents occur on highways and rural roads and pedestrians are involved in about 70 per cent of road accidents, Anwarul Iqbal said.
He mentioned that the principal contributing factors for accidents are adverse roadside environment, poor designs of junctions, overloading, overtaking, reckless driving, carelessness of road users, failure to obey mandatory traffic regulations, variety of vehicles characteristics and faulty vehicles.
Communication Secretary Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, World Bank Adviser Mohammed Alhousseyni Toure, GRSF representative of the World Bank Anthony G Bliss, among others, spoke at the workshop, presided over by BUET Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr AMM Safiullah.ARC Director and Professor of Civil Engineering Department of BUET Dr Md Mazharul Hoque said in urban areas, pedestrians often represent up to 70 per cent of the road accident fatalities.
He mentioned that nearly 80 per cent of the road deaths are of the age group of 5-45 years, which have significant economic and societal impacts. Children under 16 account for 21 per cent of road fatalities. This percentage is nearly 2.5 times higher than that of the developed countries.
Accident Research Centre (ARC) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) organized the two-day workshop on 'Road Safety in Bangladesh: Constraints and the Way Forward' at BUET's Council Building. Inaugurating the workshop as chief guest, LGRD Adviser Mohammad Anwarul Iqbal emphasized on concerted efforts of all concerned agencies, research institutes, NGOs, policy makers, transport operators and mass media to contain road fatalities across the country.
Adviser Iqbal said Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates for road accidents, a rate which is higher than 160 deaths per ten thousand motor vehicles on road every year, compared to 2 per cent in USA and 1.4 per cent in UK. He said together with social impact in terms of pain, grief and suffering, there is serious economic burden and in current prices, road accidents in Bangladesh are costing the community nearly Tk 50 billion (about 2 per cent of GDP) per annum.
Some 70 to 80 per cent of the accidents occur on highways and rural roads and pedestrians are involved in about 70 per cent of road accidents, Anwarul Iqbal said.
He mentioned that the principal contributing factors for accidents are adverse roadside environment, poor designs of junctions, overloading, overtaking, reckless driving, carelessness of road users, failure to obey mandatory traffic regulations, variety of vehicles characteristics and faulty vehicles.
Communication Secretary Mohammad Mahbubur Rahman, World Bank Adviser Mohammed Alhousseyni Toure, GRSF representative of the World Bank Anthony G Bliss, among others, spoke at the workshop, presided over by BUET Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr AMM Safiullah.ARC Director and Professor of Civil Engineering Department of BUET Dr Md Mazharul Hoque said in urban areas, pedestrians often represent up to 70 per cent of the road accident fatalities.
He mentioned that nearly 80 per cent of the road deaths are of the age group of 5-45 years, which have significant economic and societal impacts. Children under 16 account for 21 per cent of road fatalities. This percentage is nearly 2.5 times higher than that of the developed countries.