Sangsad Bhaban – Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader on Wednesday told Parliament that a total of 888 people were killed in road accidents across the country in the first four months of 2017.”Some 888 people were killed and 716 others injured in 929 road accidents throughout the country from January to April as per the statistics of Bangladesh Police,” he said replying to a tabled starred question from Awami League MP Pinu Khan (Reserved Seat-23).Being a signatory country for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 adopted by the United Nations, Bangladesh is committed to bringing down the number of casualties in road accidents by 50 percent by 2020, said the minister.He said the government has been implementing different projects, activities and programmes considering 3Es (Engineering, Education and Enforcement) aiming to reduce road accidents in the country.The government has already taken corrective measures for over 100 black spots out of total 227 identified across the country and a project involving Tk 165 crore is now being implemented to undertake the preventive measures for the rest of black spots within the outgoing fiscal year, he said.In reply to another starred question from AL MP Didarul Alam (Chittagong-4), the Road Transport and Bridges Minister said the road accident is declining gradually in the country due to the government’s effective plans.According to the statistics of Bangladesh Police, the number of road accidents was 4,472 in 2008, which came down to 2,566 in 2016, he said.UNB news agency
