563 killed in road crashes in Aug: BPWA
Staff Reporter :
At least 563 people were killed and 1,261 injured in 552 accidents across road, rail, and waterways across the country last August, according to a report released by the Bangladesh Passengers’ Welfare Association (BPWA) on Wednesday.
The report said the group’s accident monitoring cell, which compiles data from national, regional, and online newspapers, found that 497 road crashes alone claimed 502 lives and left 1,232 others injured.
Rail accidents accounted for 34 deaths and seven injuries from 34 incidents, while 21 waterway mishaps left 27 dead, 22 injured, and 13 missing.
Motorcycles were the most dangerous mode, involved in 165 accidents that killed 176 people and injured 144.
These crashes represented 33.19 percent of total accidents and over 35 percent of total fatalities. Dhaka division saw the highest number of road accidents with 132 incidents, killing 128 and injuring 333, while Barishal had the lowest with 15 accidents, 14 deaths, and 22 injuries.
Victims included drivers, students, women, children, pedestrians, teachers, and even members of law enforcement. Among the dead were 142 drivers, 82 pedestrians, 73 women, 38 children, 51 students, seven teachers, and 11 political activists.
The report blamed poor road conditions from monsoon damage, reckless driving, unfit vehicles, lack of traffic signs and road dividers, extortion on highways, and untrained drivers as major causes. To curb the toll, the association recommended urgent road repairs, better street lighting, stricter vehicle fitness checks, modern public transport networks, stronger regulatory oversight, and investment in driver training.
It also urged measures to control motorcycle and battery-powered rickshaw use, scrap unfit vehicles, and introduce digital enforcement of road safety laws.
According to the Association, at least 568 people were killed and 1,411 injured in 554 roads, railways and waterways accidents in July.
Of them, 520 people were killed in 506 road accidents and the incidents left 1,356 injured while, 34 accidents in the railways took 31 lives and wounded 41 persons. Besides, 17 people were killed, 14 injured and five went missing in 14 waterway accidents during the same period.
The frequency of accidents has become a serious concern in the country as the figure of the death toll is not declining.
Concerned stakeholders said that the loss of life is becoming a normal issue in different accidents in the country. The accountability of these accidents is absent as well.
General Secretary of the Passenger Welfare Association Mozzammel Haque Chowdhury said that loss of any single life in accidents is not desirable. All concerned need to work together to combat the high frequency of accidents, he added.
