News Desk : dhakamirror.com
At least 516 people were killed and 812 more injured in 559 road accidents in June this year, said a Road Safety Foundation report published on Wednesday.
Of the accidents, involvement of motorcycles was the highest 37.03 per cent and the highest 32.75 per cent people were killed in the motorcycle accidents.
In the month, daily on average 17.2 per cent people were killed in road crashes which was 13.16 per cent in May.
During the period, 18 people were killed and 11 more were injured in 21 railways accidents, while nine were killed and seven more remained missing in 12 waterways accidents. Thirty-eight cows also drowned in waterways accidents.
The report was prepared based on the reports published in nine national dailies, on seven online news portals and different electronic media, said a press release issued by the organisation.
Among the fatal victims, 169 were motorcyclists and their co-riders, 114 were passengers and transport workers of different three-wheeler vehicles, 99 were pedestrians, 65 were illegal passengers and transport workers of trucks, pickup vans, tractors and trolleys, 24 were passengers and drivers of cars, microbuses, jeeps and ambulances, 20 were passengers and transport workers of locally modified vehicles (nasimon, karimon, bhatbhati, tomtom and Mahindra), 18 were passengers and pullers of rickshaws, rickshaw vans and bicycles and seven were bus passengers.
One hundred fourteen children died in road crashes in the month while total 76 drivers and transport wokrers and 73 students also lost their lives.
The RSF report found that the highest percentage, 44.18 per cent, of road crashes took place on the regional highways followed by 32.55 per cent on the national highways, 12.16 per cent on the rural roads, 10.55 per cent on the urban roads and 0.5 per cent on other roads.
Of the accidents, the highest 47.94 per cent were caused from losing control, followed by 19.49 per cent by head-on collisions, 17.35 per cent by hitting pedestrians, 12.88 per cent by hitting other vehicles from behind and 2.32 per cent by other reasons.
The highest, 26.65 per cent, crashes occurred in the morning.
In Dhaka division, the highest number of road accidents, 168, caused the highest number of deaths, 109, while in Barishal division in the lowest number of crashes, 24, a total 18 people were killed.
Fifteen people were killed and 12 more were injured in 19 crahses in the capital.
The report blamed movement of unfit vehicles, overspeeding, reckless driving, movement of low speed vehicles on the highwyas, tendency to defy trafiic rules, poor traffic management, and extortion for the accidents.
The foundation release also said that apart from the motorcycles, fatal road crashes involving heavy goods-laden vehicles were also on rise while implementation of the Road Transport Act, 2018 was important to ensure road safety.
