484 people were killed in 427 accidents across the country in January, the highest number of motorcycles

News Desk: In the first month of January this year, there were 426 road accidents across the country. 484 people were killed and 83 injured in these accidents. The dead included 92 women and 48 children.

This picture has come up in a report of the Road Safety Foundation which works on road accidents. And in the first month of the new year, 159 motorcycle accidents have taken place across the country. 17 people died in these accidents, which is 34 percent of the total deaths. In January 2020, 103 people were killed in 69 motorcycle accidents.

In comparison, the number of motorcycle accidents has increased by 6 percent and the number of deaths has increased by 63 percent compared to last year. The report was sent to the media on Saturday (February 6) in the form of a notification. The Road Safety Foundation compiled the report based on information from seven national dailies, five online news portals and electronic media.

According to the Road Safety Foundation, there were 426 road accidents across the country in January. 484 people were killed and 83 injured in these accidents. The dead included 92 women and 48 children. At the same time, 6 people were killed, 4 injured and 6 were missing in four boat accidents.

14 people were killed and 8 injured in 11 accidents on the railways. The death toll from motorcyclists has risen to 38.23 percent in January, the report said. Adolescents ride motorcycles on the road with extreme recklessness. They are the victims of more accidents. The situation will be more dire if the implementation of traffic laws and regular monitoring of motorcycling is not ensured.

According to the Road Safety Foundation, Dhaka division has the highest number of accidents and deaths. 128 people have been killed in 112 accidents in this section. The lowest number of accidents occurred in Sylhet division. 26 people have been killed in 32 accidents in this section. As a single district, Dhaka district has the highest number of accidents and deaths.

37 people have been killed in 31 accidents in Dhaka. The lowest number of accidents occurred in Jhalokati district. One person was killed in two accidents in the district. The report also said that 147 pedestrians were killed in accidents across the country in January, accounting for 30.18 percent of the total deaths. The driver and assistant of the vehicle were killed 53 people, which is 10.95 percent.

The number of vehicles involved in the accident is 611. The highest number of accidents were motorcycles (184). In second and third place are trucks (119) and buses (83). Besides, 146 accidents have taken place in Easybike-CNG-Autorickshaw-Autovan-Tempo-Laguna-Mishuk roads.

10 main causes of road accidents have been identified including faulty vehicles, reckless speed, poor traffic management. These include inefficiency of drivers and physical and mental illness, unpaid salaries and working hours of drivers, slow speeding on highways, reckless motorcycling of youths, tendency to not know and disobey traffic laws and lack of BRTA capacity.

The report has made 10 recommendations including increasing the initiative to create skilled drivers, fixing the salary and working hours of the drivers. One of the recommendations is to ensure smooth implementation of traffic laws, create service lanes on highways, construct road dividers on highways and ensure proper implementation of the Road Transport Act of 2016.

Regarding the report, Saidur Rahman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation, told the media that there was no visible progress in establishing discipline in the road transport sector. The whole initiative revolves around just meeting, forming committees and making recommendations. Considering the situation, it is important to sort out the entire transport sector. The government should focus on this issue in the national interest. This requires political will.