Road crashes claim 589 lives in March: Report RSF

country

Staff Correspondent: Dhaka, Apr-04,

As many as 589 lives were lost while 647 people were injured in 458 road accidents across the country in March, showing an increase of 13.43% from the month of February, according to a report.

Besides, at least 19 people were killed in five waterway accidents while 17 others killed and eight others injured in 11 train accidents during the period.

Road Safety Foundation (RSF), an organisation that campaigns for safer roads, on Monday revealed this information in a new report on accidents on Bangladesh’s roads this year.

The report was prepared based on accident news carried by seven national dailies, five online news portals and electronic media.

On average, 19 people were killed in a day in the month of March while the average rate per day was 16.75 in the month of February, the report said.

Besides, the total number of motorcycle accidents was 221 during the last month, which is 38.42 per cent of the total accidents.

According to the RSF findings, at least 162 pedestrians were killed in road accidents, which account for 27.50 percent of the total deaths.

Some 73 drivers and their assistants were also subjected to road fatalities and that is 12.39 percent of the total deaths.

According to the RSF report, 167 accidents occurred on national highways, 179 on regional highways, 68 on rural roads, 39 on city roads and five accidents occurred in others places.

The Dhaka division witnessed the highest number of accidents with 23.93% from 25.54% while accidents while Sylhet experienced the lowest number of accident and casualty with 5.94% deaths from 5.67% accidents.

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