Road accidents claim 459 lives in August

At least 459 people were killed and 618 others injured in road accidents across the country in August, said a study of a passenger welfare association.
The casualties happened in some 388 road accidents, read a statement of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity on Wednesday.
Besides, some 14 people died and three got injured in some 15 railway accidents, and 80 died, 52 injured and 31 remained missing in some 41 waterway accidents, the organisation also said.
The accident monitoring cell of the passenger welfare association prepared the data from the national newspapers and other media, it read.
Of the total deaths in road accidents, 167 were drivers, 110 pedestrians, 63 women, 34 children, 32 students, 17 transport workers.
Of the total road accidents, 28.98 per cent were from motorbikes, 21.61 per cent from trucks and covered vans, 16.12 per cent from buses, 8.78 per cent were from CNG-run auto rickshaws, 9.77 per cent from battery-run auto rickshaws, 7.71 per cent from 'Nasimon' and 'Karimon', and 7.03 per cent were from car-jeep-microbus, the statement added .
Of the road accidents, 48.96 per cent happened on local highways, 28.86 per cent on national highways, and 14.69 per cent on feeder roads. And, of the total accidents, 5.15 per cent occurred in the capital Dhaka.
Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of Jatri Kalyan Samity, said in the statement that battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes were seen occupying the main roads in cities due to shutdown in the pandemic which caused the increased number of road accidents.
He also blamed the damaged road conditions for the road accidents across the country.
Besides, the number of motorcycles is constantly increasing and reckless movement is becoming a major threat to road safety, he observed.
Furthermore, the irregularities, corruption and lack of accountability of the agencies are also responsible for road accidents, he commented.

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