463 killed in 532 road accidents in June: Jatri Kalyan Samity

At least 463 people were killed and 1,323 others injured in 532 road accidents across the country in June, according to a report by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association) today (14 July). 

According to the report, the same month also saw 53 railway accidents that killed 45 people and injured eight, while five waterway accidents claimed five lives and left five others hurt.

Combining road, rail and waterway accidents, the country recorded 590 accidents in June that killed 513 people and injured 1,336 others, the report said.

Motorcycle accidents alone accounted for 172 crashes, killing 173 people and injuring 132 – representing 32.33% of all accidents, 37.36% of deaths and 9.97% of injuries recorded during the month, it added.

Chattogram division recorded the highest number of road accidents in June with 128 crashes that killed 126 people and injured 373, while Mymensingh division saw the fewest, with 25 accidents killing 26 and injuring 35.

The Samity's Accident Monitoring Cell compiled the data by reviewing media reports, noting that the actual casualty figures could be significantly higher, as many incidents go unreported in newspapers.

Among those affected in road accidents, the report identified 22 law enforcement personnel, 116 drivers, 82 pedestrians, 29 transport workers, 87 students, 10 teachers, 52 women, 55 children, one journalist, one engineer, and 10 political party activists.

Fatalities included two police members, one army member, one engineer, 111 drivers of various vehicles, 71 pedestrians, 45 women, 47 children, 60 students, 11 transport workers, 10 teachers, and nine political party activists, according to the report.

Of the 795 vehicles identified as involved in road accidents, motorcycles made up 26.79%, followed by trucks, pickups, covered vans and lorries at 25.28%, buses at 17.35%, battery-run rickshaws and easy-bikes at 14.96%, CNG-run auto-rickshaws at 5.28%, nosimon-korimon-mahindra-tractors and leguna at 4.15%, and cars, jeeps and microbuses at 6.16%.

By type, 27.63% of accidents involved vehicles hitting or running over victims, 43.23% were head-on collisions, 20.67% involved vehicles losing control and falling into ditches, 7.14% were attributed to miscellaneous causes, 0.18% to scarves getting entangled in wheels, and 1.12% to train-vehicle collisions.

By location, 44.73% of accidents occurred on national highways, 28.38% on regional highways, and 20.67% on feeder roads. Additionally, 4.13% occurred in Dhaka city, 0.93% in Chattogram city, and 1.12% at railway crossings.

The report cited unchecked movement of motorcycles, battery-run rickshaws and auto-rickshaws on national highways, absence of road signs, markings and streetlights leading to sudden entry of vehicles from feeder roads, lack of road dividers, blind bends caused by roadside trees, faulty highway construction, mechanical defects in vehicles, traffic law violations, wrong-way driving, extortion on roads, carrying passengers on goods vehicles, unskilled drivers, unfit vehicles, overloading, reckless and non-stop driving without rest, potholes formed during rains, and damaged road surfaces as significant factors behind the accidents.

It also pointed to low-income commuters being forced to travel on bus roofs, truck roofs and atop goods-laden trucks due to excess fares being charged, contributing to the rise in road accidents.

The Samity recommended placing road transport management under the supervision of local and foreign transport experts and international road safety specialists instead of officials from the Road Transport Ministry and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), to stem the yearly toll of deaths on the roads. 

Its other recommendations include developing a modern bus network across the country on the model of developed nations, introducing technology-based road control systems, ensuring driver training and licensing through modern technology, establishing service lanes with footpaths on major national highways, curbing extortion on roads through structural reforms, ensuring drivers' salaries and working hours, setting up footpaths and pedestrian crossings alongside road signs and markings on highways, ensuring quality road construction and repair with regular road safety audits, modernising the vehicle fitness certification system, withdrawing outdated public transport vehicles, enhancing BRTA's capacity, establishing a traffic training academy, and ending the monopoly control of bus owners' associations and worker federations over the transport sector.