57 children among 487 killed in January road crashes in Bangladesh: RSF

At least 57 children were among 487 people killed in 559 road accidents across Bangladesh in January this year, according to a report released yesterday by the Road Safety Foundation.

The crashes also left 1,194 people injured. Among the deceased were 68 women.

Motorcycle crashes accounted for 196 deaths in 208 incidents, representing 40.24% of total fatalities and 37.20% of all accidents. Pedestrians made up 27.10% of the deaths, with 132 people killed, while 67 drivers and helpers died, accounting for 13.75%.

During the same period, four waterway accidents killed six people and injured seven, while 41 railway accidents left 32 dead and 17 injured.

The report was prepared based on information from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, electronic media reports and the foundation's own data.

Motorcycle riders and passengers were the worst affected, followed by passengers of three-wheelers such as easy bikes, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, and auto-vans, who accounted for 77 deaths, or 15.81%. Bus passengers died in 21 cases, while 28 deaths involved truck, covered van, pickup and tractor occupants.

Nine people were killed in private car, microbus, ambulance, and jeep crashes, while 13 died while travelling in locally made vehicles such as nosimon and bhotbhoti. Eleven cyclists were also killed.

Road type and accident pattern

The analysis showed that 27.90% of the crashes occurred on national highways, 37.03% on regional roads, 15.20% on rural roads, and 18.42% on city streets.

In terms of accident type, 37.38% were caused by loss of control, 24.15% by head-on collisions, 24.50% by vehicles hitting pedestrians, and 12.88% by rear-end collisions.

Heavy vehicles, including trucks, covered vans, and tankers, were involved in 28.58% of the crashes, followed by motorcycles at 24.51% and three-wheelers at 18.53%. Passenger buses accounted for 12.20% of the incidents.

Dhaka Division recorded the highest number of accidents and fatalities, with 143 crashes killing 119 people. Sylhet Division had the lowest toll, with 18 deaths from 24 accidents.

In Dhaka city, 26 accidents killed 18 people and injured 41 others.

Based on media reports, the victims included police members, teachers, doctors, journalists, lawyers, bank and insurance employees, NGO workers, political activists, businesspeople, sales representatives, garment and construction workers, people with disabilities, and 57 students.

The foundation identified defective vehicles and roads, overspeeding, reckless and unfit driving, lack of fixed wages and working hours for drivers, slow-moving vehicles on highways, risky motorcycle riding by youths, poor knowledge and enforcement of traffic laws, weak traffic management, capacity constraints at the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, and extortion in the public transport sector as the main causes of road accidents.