487 deaths in 439 road accidents in Feb: RSF

Staff Reporter :
Some 487 people were killed leaving 712 people injured in 439 road accidents throughout the country in February this year, according to a latest report.
The Road Safety Foundation (RSF), an organistation work for various subjects including road safety released a report on Wednesday and said that 96 people were killed in 183 motorcycle accidents across the country – 40.24 per cent of the total deaths.
Among the dead, 54 were women and 68 were children.
At least 16 people were dead and seven were injured in nine waterways accidents while at least 14 people were killed and five were injured in 17 railway accidents during the same period.
RSF prepared the report based on nine national dailies, seven online news portals and electronic media information.
At least 108 pedestrians were killed in road accidents, which is 22.17 per cent of the total deaths. Some 72 drivers and their assistants were killed, which is 14.78 per cent of the total deaths.
According to RSF’s observation and analysis, the highest number 168 (38.26 per cent) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 177 (40.31 per cent) on regional roads, 61 (13.89 per cent) on rural roads and 29 (6.60 per cent) on urban roads.
On the other hand, the highest 201 (45.78 per cent) among the total accidents occurred due to losing control over the wheel, 68 (15.48 per cent) due to collision, 112 accidents (25.51 per cent) happened due to pushing or running over pedestrians, 47 incidents (10.70 per cent) involved hitting the rear side of vehicles and 11 (2. 50 per cent) occurred due to other reasons. Dhaka division had the highest number of accidents and deaths, with 24.84 per cent of the deaths; Rajshahi division with 19.71 per cent deaths; Chattogram division with 18.89 per cent; while Khulna division with 9.85 per cent deaths.