Road accidents claim 486 lives in November
In total, 539 people were killed in 449 road, rail and waterways accidents in the last month
In the last one month, 486 people have been killed and 741 injured in 443 road accidents across the country, said Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a national passengers' welfare platform.
In November, at least 50 accidents took place on railways that claimed 52 lives and injured 13 others. Besides, four other people went missing in six accidents on river routes at the same period, it added.
The Road Accident Monitoring Cell of the organisation revealed the information in a press release issued on Wednesday.
The survey report was prepared after analysing the reports published in national dailies and online media of the country.
In total, 539 people were killed and 74 injured in 449 road, rail and waterways accidents in the last month, it said.
According to the statistics, over 51% of the total road accidents took place on regional highways while over 22% occurred on the national highways across the country while nearly 22% took place on feeder roads.
The Dhaka city tops the list accounting for 2.48% of the total road accidents while Chattogram city saw 1.13%. Of the total accidents, 0.90 percent occurred at rail crossings.
According to the statistics, 157 drivers, 139 pedestrians, 72 women, 32 children, 25 transport workers, 25 students, 14 activists from political parties, five members of law enforcement agencies, eight teachers, three doctors and one Ansar man were among those killed during the period.
Meanwhile, 28 people were killed and 23 others injured in 20 road accidents on 19 November, showing the highest number of accidents in just one day, it added.
Accidents involving trucks, pickups and covered vans topped the list with the highest rate (26.76%), while motorcycle accidents accounted for 24.83% and buses for 13.14%.
Jatri Kalyan Samity said road accidents and fatalities are on the rise due to overtaking and reckless driving and irregularities, corruption and lack of accountability of the agencies responsible for road safety.
It is not possible to ensure road safety without modernising the traffic system, updating the licensing and the system to check vehicles' fitness, it added.
