More than 8,000 people die in road accidents every year

Staff Reporter :
More than 8,000 people die and about 80,000 become the victims of disability every year in different road accidents across the country, Jatri Kalyan Samity said on Friday.
“Over 8000 people are killed in road accidents every year. About 80,000 people become disabled each year for the accidents. Of the disabled, more than 12,000 persons are under 17 years. On an average 220 people become disabled every day,” Secretary General of Jatri Kalyan Samity Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said in a press conference in Bangladesh Shishu Kalyan Parishad.
He said that on an average 17 people was killed per day in different road accidents across the country.
Mentioning the report of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), he said, “According to DGHS, 64 people die every day in the streets. As per this data, around 23,360 people
are killed in road accident per year and around 3.5 lakh people become wounded.”
According to World Health Organisation, approximately 13 lakh people are killed in road accidents each year. Of the accidents, 24,954 people die in Bangladesh.
As per the WHO, 67 percent of the casualties are between the age group of 15-64, and the GDP loss out of the accidents is about 5.3 percent.
As per the estimate of BUET, the amount of loss in road accidents in the last three years was about one lakh nine thousand crore Taka.
Analyzing the Police information, BUET said that 54 percent people killed in road accidents in the last one decade was between the age group of 15-40, and the persons killed in the accidents was 18.5 percent children who were below 15 years old.
Mozammel Haque said that according to Roads and Highway Division, the financial loss of a working people, if killed in road accident, was Tk 24.62 lakh.
Mentioning the Road Transport Act 2018, he said that there is a provision of compensation of five lakh Taka for the deceased’s family members and three lakh Taka for the injured one, but it has not been executed yet.
Jatri Kalyan demanded for the full implementation of the Act pertaining to the compensation.
“Due to the slow implementation of the Act, the road accidents are on the rise,” Mozammel Haque said.
He also said that the road accidents have been putting negative impact on the national economy and urged the government to take necessary steps to reduce the level of accidents by implementing the laws fully.