Death in road accidents rises 13.66% in March
Dhaka saw the most deaths, amounting to 24, with 16 injured.
Deaths caused by road accidents increased by 13.66% in March compared to the previous month, according to a report of the Road Safety Foundation released Wednesday.
Last month, the country experienced 486 road accidents which led to the tragic loss of at least 564 lives, which is a sizable jump from February's 487.
The number of people injured in road crashes increased from 712 in February to 1,097 March.
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The causes of road accidents include vehicles violating speed limits, reckless driving, issues concerning drivers' salary and working hours, low-speed vehicles on highways, physical and mental illness of drivers, youths driving motorcycles recklessly, lack of awareness and disobedience of traffic laws, weak traffic management, institutional weakness, extortion and faulty vehicles, reads the report.
According to the report, there were 88 women and 73 children among the dead.
Last month, at least 194 people died in 179 motorcycle accidents, which is 34.39% of the total deaths. The motorcycle accidents accounted for 36.83% of the total accidents that month.
Meanwhile, 107 pedestrians were killed in the accidents, which contributed to 18.97% of the total fatalities. Furthermore, 81 drivers and assistants died, which is 14.36% of the dead.
During the month, eight people were killed in six boat accidents, while 16 were killed and four were injured in 19 railway accidents.
The maximum number of deaths caused by road accidents was in Dhaka – 24, while 16 were injured in accidents there.
The Road Safety Foundation prepared the report based on information from nine national dailies, and seven online news portals and electronic media.
The Passenger Welfare Association has also published a report, where the number of accidents was 487 in March, with 538 dead and 1,138 injured.
According to the report, most accidents occurred on regional and national highways covering 35.11% and 33.06% of the total number of accidents respectively.
Of the total accidents, 57.49% were run over, 15.19% head-on collisions, 16.42% falling into ditches losing control, 9.65% miscellaneous causes and 1.23% train-vehicle collisions.
