2021 saw 4,600 accidents on road and naval routes: RSF

A total of 4,600 road and naval accidents were reported across the country in 2021 claiming at least 5,553 lives while injuring at least 6,500 others, informed the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) of Bangladesh.

Saidur Rahman, executive director of RSF, an organisation working on accident monitoring and data protection, said, "In fact, the death toll is much higher. At least another 1,000 people died other than the 5,553 deaths that were reported, because there is no data for those who died while undergoing treatments."

He also said, "According to our records, the number of accidents and deaths in 2021 has increased compared to the last few years. Motorbike accidents have also increased a lot this year."

Blaming mismanagement in the road transport sector for the road accidents, he said, "The government has not taken any initiative to overcome this worrying situation."

Based on reports from seven national dailies, five online news portals and electronic media the RSF on Saturday sent a compiled report to the media, which shows there were 383 road and naval accidents across the country in December alone. In these accidents, 418 people were killed and 497 were injured.

An analysis of RSF on death toll shows that 339 adults aged between 18-65, were killed in those accidents, which is about 81.10% of the total deaths.

According to the report, motorbike accidents accounted for 43.60% of the total accidents. A total of 167 motorbike accidents occurred in December alone killing at least 178 people, which is 42.58% of the total deaths.

In December, three people were killed and eight went missing in three boat capsize incidents. Besides, 49 people were killed and 34 others were injured in a fire incident at MV Abhijan-10 launch on the Sugandha River. In the rail routes, 13 accidents were reported that killed at least 22 and left nine injured.

The RSF findings also revealed that most road accidents took place in the morning and mostly killed the pedestrians. The vehicles involved in the accidents were trucks, covered vans and pickups.

"The reckless driving mentally is a major reason behind these accidents," Saidur said.  

The highest number of accidents, 26.63% of the total, and also the highest number of deaths occurred in the Dhaka division among all the divisions. At least 113 people were killed in 102 accidents.