Dhaka, Jan 25 – A total of 7,221 people were killed and 15,466 others injured in at least 5,514 road accidents across Bangladesh in 2018. Of the injured, 1,722 people survived with permanent disability.
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a platform working for the protection of passenger rights, revealed the statistics at a press conference at the Jatyio Press Club on Friday.
Secretary General of the organization Md Mozammel Haque presented the written statement, while former adviser to the caretaker government Dr Hossain Zillur Rahman and eminent lawyer Barrister Jotirmoy Barua were present at the occasion.
Mozammel Haque said that a total of 23,590 passengers, drivers, transport workers and pedestrians were the victims of road accidents that happened from January 1 to December 31 in 2018. On them, 7,397 died and 1,722 were disabled permanently by losing their hand, leg or any other organ.
The report was prepared based on media reports published in 20 national and regional newspapers and online news portals.
The organization released the statistics when mismanagement in road transport sector, reckless driving and race among vehicles to pick passengers came to the fore, leaving several passengers died or
injured some others critically.
Mozammel Haque said that the loss from the accidents in 2018 is worth 1.50 to 2.00 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).
The organization mentioned some vital reasons behind the road accidents. These include reckless driving, plying unfit vehicles, moving vehicles by unskilled drivers without having legal license,
overloading and overtaking tendency of the drivers, not following traffic rules and regulations and dilapidated condition of several roads and highways.
The Jatri Kalyan Samity put forward several recommendations for prevention of road accidents.
Some of the recommendations that they made were- carrying out awareness activities at educational institutions, mosques and other places of worship and mass media; removing markets from near national and regional highways; freeing footpaths from grabbers; installing road signs and marking zebra crossings; imparting professional training to drivers; and updating existing traffic laws.
Mozammel Haque urged the government to pay proper heed to the recommendations.
In reply to a question where he was told that the number of deaths in road accidents in their data is higher than the data of police record, Mozammel said, police prepared the report on the basis of cases filed over crashes. “But cases are not filed after nearly 80 percent of the incidents,” he said adding that police data are based on about 20 percent of the crases, he claimed.
“The government always wants to show a smaller number of accident deaths to hide their failure. As a government institution, police prepares the report accordingly,” he alleged. – Staff Reporter
