475 dead from 452 road accidents in October: Jatri Kalyan Samity
Staff Correspondent
The month of October witnessed 452 road accidents in Bangladesh, leaving 475 people dead and 815 injured, according to a report by Jatri Kalyan Samity, the road safety advocates.
Samity General Secretary Mohammad Mozammel Haque Chowdhury shared the findings at a press conference in the capital on Saturday.
The report says there were 63 railway accidents that claimed the lives of 76 people, while 24 were injured. Besides, 19 accidents on waterways left 24 people dead, 36 injured and 9 missing.
According to the report, 138 motorcycle accidents accounted for 163 deaths and 239 injuries, representing 30.53% of total accidents, 34.31% of fatalities and 29.32% of injuries.
The report indicates that among those who lost their lives in road accidents this month were 10 members of law enforcement, 124 drivers, 117 pedestrians, 32 transport workers, 49 students, 15 teachers, 58 women, 51 children, 4 physicians, 6 journalists, 16 individuals from different political parties.
Among the 631 vehicles involved in accidents, motorcycles comprised 24.41%, trucks-pickups-covered vans and lorry 22.50%, buses 18.54%, battery-run rickshaws and easy-bike 17.91%, CNG-run auto rickshaw 3.96%, Nosimon-Karimon-Mahindra-tractor and Laguna 6.65% and car-jeep-microbus 6.02%.
The highest percentage – 38.29% -- of road crashes took place on national highways, 30.39% on regional highways, and 24.62% on feeder roads, says the report.
According to BJKS, Bangladesh saw 493 road accidents in September, leaving 498 people dead and 978 injured.
