Child deaths increase by about 17pc in road accidents: SCRF
Staff Reporter :
Road accidents, reported from April to June, showed that at least 245 children were killed in Bangladesh reflecting that the infant mortality rate in road crashes has increased by 16.66 per cent compared to the first three months of this year, according to a reporters forum report released on Friday.
The report of Shipping and Communication Reporters Forum (SCRF) said, death of women in road accidents decreased by 8.53 per cent during the second quarter compared to the fatalities in first quarter of the year.
The report on road crashes has been prepared based on the information published in 12 Bengali national dailies, five English national dailies, nine online news portals and news agencies and six regional dailies.
The review revealed that the rate of killed and injured in the last three months has decreased by 4.71 per cent and 20.06 per cent respectively compared to the previous three months.
The report said 210 children lost their lives in the first three months, but 245 children were killed in the next three months. The review shows that the infant mortality rate has increased by 16.66 per cent.
Besides, 404 women and 455 children lost their lives in six months. It could be seen that the mortality rate of women and children is 13.94 per cent and 15.7 per cent respectively.
Among them, 211 women were killed on the roads in the first three months and 193 women in the next three months. As a result, the female mortality rate has decreased by 8.53 per cent.
On the other hand, 1,088 people were killed in 1,079 motorcycle accidents in six months, which is 38.79 per cent and 37.54 per cent of total accidents and fatalities respectively.
Among those, 579 people were killed in 527 accidents in the first three months and 509 people were killed in 552 accidents in the next three months, the report said. The review showed that while the motorcycle accident rate increased by 5.12 per cent in the last three months compared to the first three months, the fatality rate decreased by 12.08 per cent.
Meanwhile, in another study published by Road Safety Foundation (RSF) on the same day (Friday) said that at least 324 people were killed and 631 others injured in 303 road accidents across the country in 15 days during Eid-ul-Azha.
After analyzing accident reports published in nine national dailies, and seven online portals and electronic media from 23 June to 7 July, RSF Published these data mentioning the number of deaths from road accidents came down by 16.63 per cent compared to last year during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays.
Of the accidents, 43.23 percent occurred on national highways, 37.95 per cent on regional roads and 12.21 per cent on other roads, with 6.6 per cent of those in the capital.
The report also said there were more accidents at the end of the holidays of Eid-ul-Azha, because there was not much supervision on the return journeys.
