A total of 18,233 people were killed and 15,471 others injured, 12,537 of them critically, in road accidents across the country during the last five and a half years till June this year, official sources said here today.
Police filed a total of 21906 cases with various police stations accusing 21,100 people during the period but they could arrest only 3,573 people for their alleged involvement in a number of road accidents.
According to the police sources, of the total accidents, 10,007 were bus accidents, 6575 were truck accidents, 2,072 were car or jeep accidents, 1,616 were baby taxi accidents and the rest 1,323 were motorcycle accidents.
According to police statistics, the highest numbers of road deaths were recorded in the country in 2008 in which 3,765 people were killed and 1284 injured in different parts of the country.
The numbers of road deaths were 3749 in 2007 in which 1373 people were injured, 2734 of them critically. The death figure was 3,193 in 2006 while it was 3,187 in 2005. The road deaths reduced to 2,958 in 2009 which was 3,765 during the previous year. Police recorded death toll only 1,381 during the first six months of this year when 864 people were injured in 1,480 road accidents all over the country, the statistics added.
When contacted, a senior official of the Police Headquarters told BSS that over 10,00000 people die in road accidents a year all over the world in which 1.5 crore people receive injuries. It cost losses of 518 billion US dollars a year in the world.
Meanwhile, Sohrab Hossain, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Highway Police, claimed that the road deaths in the country have reduced drastically during the last one and a half years after the recent introduction of Highway Police.
The number of deaths was 3765 in 2008 which was 2958 in 2009 and only 1381 in the first six months of this year, he added.
