NN Online:
At least 588 people were killed and 1,124 others injured in 593 road accidents across the country in April, according to a monthly report released by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) on Sunday.
The casualties included 86 women and 78 children. Motorcycles were involved in 218 of the accidents, resulting in 229 deaths, the report said.
In addition to road accidents, seven waterway incidents caused eight deaths and injured four others, while 22 railway accidents claimed 24 lives and left six injured.
The RSF prepared the report using data collected from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, and several electronic media outlets.
According to the division-wise breakdown, Dhaka recorded the highest number of accidents—173 incidents resulting in 154 deaths. Rangpur had the lowest, with 31 accidents causing 32 fatalities.
Among districts, Chittagong saw 35 accidents with 46 deaths, while Nilphamari reported accidents but no fatalities. In the capital alone, 34 accidents resulted in 19 deaths and 27 injuries.
The report cited key causes of accidents, including the use of unfit vehicles, reckless driving, unskilled drivers, the presence of slow-moving vehicles on highways, and widespread violation of traffic laws.
To address the crisis, RSF recommended several measures: the training and development of skilled drivers, stricter enforcement of traffic regulations, removal of slow-moving vehicles from highways, and the construction of dedicated service roads to reduce congestion and collisions.
