Road accidents kill 583, injure 1,202 in April: Jatri Kalyan Samity

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS), an association to protect passengers' welfare, today (6 May) said in a statement citing media reports that a total of 583 people were killed and 1,202 others injured in 567 road accidents across the country in the month of April. 

Motorcycle accidents have contributed to the highest deaths and injuries in April with 215 motorcycle accidents that killed 229 people and injured 224 others, it said. 

"This is 37.91% of the total accidents, 39.27% of the deaths and 18.64% of the injuries," reads the statement prepared by accident monitoring cell of the BJKS and signed by its Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury. 

The highest number of road accidents occurred in Chattogram division, with 138 road accidents resulting in 136 deaths and 377 injuries, while the lowest number of road accidents occurred in Sylhet division, with 31 deaths and 51 injuries in 28 road accidents. 

As many as 839 vehicles were engaged in road accidents in April, of them 30.39% were motorcycles, 17.64% were trucks-pickups-covered vans and lorries, 13.71% were buses, 16.69% were battery-operated rickshaws and easy bikes, 7.74% were CNG-powered auto-rickshaws, 7.27% were Nachiman-Kariman-Mahindra-tractors and Lagunas, and 6.55% were cars-jeeps-microbuses.

Analysing types of road accidents in April, the BJKS said that 31.74% of the total accidents occurred on national highways, 29.10% on regional highways, and 33.68% on feeder roads, 4.05% of the total accidents occurred in Dhaka Metropolitan City, 1.05% in Chattogram Metropolitan City, and 0.35% at railway crossings. 

As per the BJKS, the major causes behind the road accidents are: free movement of motorcycles and battery-powered rickshaws on roads and highways, lack of signs, markings and lights on the national highways alongside regional and feeder roads, tendency of disobeying the traffic rules and inefficient drivers, unfit vehicles, carrying excess passengers and reckless driving. 

The BJKS has recommended stopping import and registration of motorcycles and easy bikes on an urgent basis, installing lights on the national and regional highways for free movement of the vehicles at night, creating skilled drivers, providing fitness of vehicles digitally, arranging separate lanes for slow and fast vehicles, stopping hoarding on the roads, building sidewalks and pedestrian crossings on the highways, installing signs and markings.

It also stressed the need for executing the Road Transport Act appropriately in a digital manner alongside developing a high-quality modern bus networks, increasing the capacity of the regulatory body BRTA, ensuring quality road construction and repair, conducting regular road safety audits and taking initiatives to scrap expired public transport and long-term unfit vehicles to stop the road accidents.