408 killed in 491 road accidents in May: Report

A total of 408 people were killed in 491 road accidents across the country in May, says a report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).

The accidents also left 631 people injured, mentioned the RSF report, which was prepared based on data from 9 national dailies, 7 online news portals, and electronic media.

Among the casualties, 141 people died in 156 motorcycle accidents, representing 34.55% of the total deaths.

During this period, 4 people were killed and 2 people were missing in 6 boat accidents.

Furthermore, 23 people were killed and 6 injured in 25 railway accidents.

According to RSF's analysis, a total of 165 (33.60%) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 201 (40.93%) on regional roads, 73 (14.86%) on rural roads, 48 (9.77%) on city roads, and 4 (0.81%) occurred in other locations.

Of the accidents, 71 (14.46%) were head-on collisions, 236 (48.06%) lost control, 107 (21.79%) pedestrians were hit/pushed, 54 (10.99%) rear-end vehicles and 23 (4.68%) occurred due to other causes.

Dhaka witnessed the highest number of accidents and fatalities — 134 accidents and 102 deaths. On the other hand, Sylhet witnessed 21 accidents, which is the lowest number of accidents recorded.

A total of 702 vehicles were involved in road accidents, with motorcycles having the highest count at 167.

Statistics on vehicle-related accidents revealed various fatality figures across different categories: motorcycle drivers and passengers 141 (34.55%); bus passengers 6 (1.47%); truck, covered van, pickup, tractor, trolley, lorry, tanker riders 36 (8.82%); private car, microbus, ambulance passengers 18 (4.41%); three-wheeler passengers (easy bike, CNG, auto rickshaw, autovan, mishuk) 68 (16.66%). In addition, Locally-built vehicle passengers (nosimon, korimon, mahindro, brick breaking machines) accounted for 15 fatalities (3.67%), and bicycle, paddle rickshaw, and rickshaw van riders experienced 20 fatalities (4.90%).