Dhaka: At least 57 children were among 487 people killed in 559 road accidents across Bangladesh in January, as reported by the Road Safety Foundation. The accidents also resulted in injuries to 1,194 people during the same period.
According to United News of Bangladesh, the report highlighted that 68 women were among the deceased. Motorcycle accidents contributed significantly to the fatalities, with 196 people losing their lives in 208 incidents, accounting for 40.24 percent of the total deaths and 37.20 percent of all accidents. Pedestrians comprised 27.10 percent of the fatalities, with 132 deaths recorded. Additionally, 67 drivers and helpers were among those killed, making up 13.75 percent of the total fatalities.
The report also indicated that four waterway accidents resulted in six deaths and seven injuries, while 41 railway track incidents led to 32 fatalities and 17 injuries. The data was compiled from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, electronic media reports, and the foundation’s own findings.
Motorcycle riders and passengers were the most affected group, followed by passengers of three-wheelers like easy bikes, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, and auto-vans, which accounted for 77 fatalities or 15.81 percent. Bus passengers were involved in 21 fatal cases, while occupants of trucks, covered vans, pickups, and tractors accounted for 28 deaths. Nine fatalities were reported from private cars, microbuses, ambulances, and jeeps, while 13 people died in locally made vehicles such as nosimon and votvoti. Additionally, 11 cyclists lost their lives.
The analysis revealed that 27.90 percent of crashes occurred on national highways, 37.03 percent on regional roads, 15.20 percent on rural roads, and 18.42 percent on city streets, with the rest happening in other locations. In terms of accident types, 37.38 percent were due to loss of control, 24.15 percent from head-on collisions, 24.50 percent from vehicles hitting pedestrians, and 12.88 percent from rear-end collisions.
Heavy vehicles, including trucks, covered vans, and tankers, were involved in 28.58 percent of the crashes, followed by motorcycles at 24.51 percent and three-wheelers at 18.53 percent. Passenger buses accounted for 12.20 percent of the incidents. Division-wise, Dhaka Division reported the highest number of accidents and fatalities, with 143 crashes resulting in 119 deaths. Sylhet Division recorded the lowest toll, with 18 deaths from 24 accidents. In Dhaka city, 26 accidents led to 18 deaths and 41 injuries.
The victims comprised a wide range of individuals, including police members, teachers, doctors, journalists, lawyers, bank and insurance employees, NGO workers, political activists, businesspeople, sales representatives, garment and construction workers, people with disabilities, and 57 students.
The foundation identified several causes for the road accidents, including defective vehicles and roads, overspeeding, reckless and unfit driving, lack of fixed wages and working hours for drivers, slow-moving vehicles on highways, risky motorcycle riding by youths, poor knowledge and enforcement of traffic laws, weak traffic management, capacity constraints at Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, and extortion in the public transport sector.