404 killed in 463 road accidents in April: Road Safety Foundation

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Last April, 404 people were killed and 709 injured in 463 road accidents across the country. 53 women, 48 children among the dead people. 194 of these accidents (about 42 percent) were caused by loss of vehicle control. Pedestrians were hit or pushed in 106 incidents; And 97 incidents involved head-on collisions between vehicles.

A maximum of 193 of the 463 accidents in April occurred on regional roads in the country, which is about 42 percent of the total accidents. 168 (36.28 percent) accidents occurred on national highways. The rest happened on city and village roads. Apart from this, 4 people were killed and 11 injured in 7 boat accidents last month. 26 people were killed and 17 injured in 34 railway accidents.

This image emerged in the Road Safety Foundation’s April road accident report. They prepared the report based on 9 national dailies, 17 national and regional online news portals, electronic media and their own information.

According to the report, 113 people were killed in 142 motorcycle accidents on the road in April. Motorcycle accident rate is 30.66 percent. 102 pedestrians were killed in the accident. 46 people were killed, the driver and assistant of the vehicle.

659 vehicles involved in accidents in April. Out of this, trucks, covered vans, pickups, tractors, trolleys, lorries, tankers and garbage trucks of the city corporation are 25.94 percent, motorcycles are 23.21 percent and three-wheelers (easybike-CNG-autorickshaw-autovan-Laguna) are 17 percent. Most accidents occurred in the morning (28.50 percent).

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Last April, 102 people were killed in the most 109 accidents in Dhaka division. 12 people were killed in the least 12 accidents in Sylhet division. 24 people were killed and 67 injured in 36 accidents in the capital Dhaka.

The Road Safety Foundation has identified 11 major causes of accidents. These are defective vehicles, defective road infrastructure, reckless speed, recklessness of drivers, inefficiency and physical and mental illness; Not fixed salary and working hours; Low speed vehicular traffic on highways; Reckless motorcycle riding by youth; Tendency of ignorance and disobedience of traffic laws among the public; poor traffic management; Lack of capacity of BRTA and extortion in public transport sector.

Road Safety Foundation mentions 12 recommendations in the report to prevent accidents. The first is to reconstitute the National Road Safety Council (NRSC) and administer BRTA, BRTC and DTCA under it. This council shall have the power to make laws, rules and regulations. Second Recommendation—Ensure institutional transparency and accountability through structural reforms in BRTA, BRTC and DTCA.

The recommendations of the Road Safety Foundation also include making the use of modern safety technology mandatory in motor vehicles, withdrawing obsolete vehicles from the roads, introducing company-based modern bus services in the capital, increasing the number of BRTC buses and improving transport services, increasing institutional initiatives to train skilled drivers, appointing gatekeepers at all railway crossings and forming a single Ministry of Communications by merging road, rail and water transport under sustainable transport strategy.