February witnessed a total of 503 accidents, which claimed 555 lives and left 1,031 injured, according to the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS), a passenger welfare body.
Besides, 38 railway accidents were reported in the month, which resulted in 37 deaths and 64 injuries, while five maritime accidents caused seven deaths and four injuries with one person still missing.
Three policemen, one Ansar, two journalists, one doctor, one freedom fighter, 123 drivers of various transport vehicles, 34 pedestrians, 62 women, 44 children, 34 students, 15 transport workers, six teachers, and five leaders and workers of different political parties are among the total deceased.
A total of 599 people died and 1,099 others were injured in a total of 546 accidents on roads, railways and waterways in February, as per a BJKS statement released on Wednesday.
In February, 173 motorcycle accidents resulted in 210 deaths and 129 injuries, which is 34.39 per cent of total accidents, 37.83 per cent of total fatalities and 12.51 per cent of total injuries.
According to the BJKS monitoring cell, the most road accidents — 115 — took place in the Dhaka Division, killing 135 people and injuring 317 others, while the lowest number of accidents — 21 — occurred in Sylhet Division, killing 22 people and injuring 50 others.
BJKS prepared the report by monitoring the news of road, rail and maritime accidents published in the national, regional and online newspapers of the country.
It said that 36.77 per cent of road accidents took place on national highways, 18.48 per cent on regional roads, and 39.76 per cent on feeder roads. Additionally, a small percentage of accidents — 2.78 per cent — occurred within Dhaka city, 0.79 per cent in Chattogram city, and 1.39 per cent at different level crossings.
Cause
The BJKS in the report listed an array of issues that resulted in the road accidents. These include misapplication of traffic laws, weak law enforcement, a massive increase in irregularities and corruption of regulatory bodies, a massive increase in motorcycles, battery-powered rickshaws and three-wheelers and their free movement on highways, road signs or markings on roads and highways and a lack of lights on roads.
Also, indiscriminate use of fog lights at night, road and highway construction, rampant increase in unfit vehicles and unskilled drivers, footpath encroachment, vehicular defects, tendency to disobey traffic laws, wrong-way driving, unskilled drivers, unfit vehicles and reckless driving were among the root causes of accidents.
Recommendations
BJKS in the monthly report also recommended some key steps to solve the issue, such as launching a comprehensive data bank of road accidents from primary sources at the state initiative, developing a smart public transport system, stopping the import and registration of small vehicles like motorcycles and easy bikes, taking initiatives to create skilled drivers, providing vehicle fitness through digital methods, and night-time cycling and motorcycling.
They also include mandatory wearing of reflective vests, stopping street hawking, fixing proper salary and working hours of drivers, providing adequate lighting on national and regional highways for night movement, conducting road safety audits, developing star-quality road corridors, auditing ongoing routine activities of BRTA to identify institutional weaknesses and reform institutional inefficiencies.
