Students made up 11% of all victims of fatal road accidents in the country in April, according to a recent report by the Road Safety Foundation.
As many as 543 people were killed in 427 road accidents last month, including 63 students, says the report published yesterday. This amounts to 18 deaths in road accidents each day.
The deceased include 67 women and 81 children. The vast majority (79.37%) were aged 18-65 years old.
Altogether 612 others were injured in the accidents.
Among the deceased, 206 (37.93%) were killed in motorcycle accidents. Pedestrians accounted for 116 (21.36%) of the deaths.
The highest number of 156 people were killed in 131 accidents in Dhaka division.
The Road Safety Foundation prepared the report on the basis of data collected from seven national dailies and five online and electronic media outlets.
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity Secretary General Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury told Dhaka Tribune that direct collisions and bike accidents were more common during Eid, which had led to an uptick in accidents last month.
Road Safety Foundation Executive Director Saidur Rahman confirmed that the number of road accidents was slightly higher in April as compared to the previous three months.
About 418 people were killed in road accidents in January, he added.
Motorcycle menace
Motorcycles have long been the riskiest mode of transportation in the country and the situation was no different last month, with the two wheelers making up the largest proportion of road accidents.
A 25-year-old died after being run over by a truck in Shajahanpur upazila of Bogra late on Friday. His friends SM Sakib and Piyal Hossain, both students of American International University Bangladesh, sustained injuries in the incident.
He had tried to overtake a Dhaka-bound truck on the way, colliding with the vehicle and falling off his motorcycle in the process, said Shajahanpur police station Officer-in-Charge Abdullah Al Mamun.
“Then the truck ran over him, leaving him dead on the spot,” added the OC.
The Road Safety Foundation said 112 road accidents took place during the Eid holidays, with 139 people killed between May 1 and 5. As many as 56 (40.23%) of the deceased were motorcycle riders.
A total of 178 road accidents took place across the country from April 25 to May 5. During this time, 249 people were killed.
Among them, 51 were aged between 15 and 20, according to the Road Safety Foundation.
Saidur Rahman said: “The condition of our public transport is poor. So people are forced to use motorcycles as an alternative to public transport even for long journeys. Even if many reach their destinations in comfort, it is at risk to their lives.
‘’The number of such deaths will come down if the public transport system is made people-friendly,” he added.
Recklessly riding motorcycles, not knowing of and not obeying traffic laws, poor traffic management, and unskilled drivers are some of the major barriers to road safety. The carrying of excess passengers on public transports is also a major issue, experts have said.