8,543 killed in transport accidents last year

At least 6,201 accidents involving road, rail and water transports took place in the country in the last year leaving 8,543 people dead and 14,318 injured, according to a report of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passenger rights body. The Samity published the report, prepared based on newspaper reports, at Bangladesh Crime Reporters Association (CRAB) auditorium at Segunbagicha in the capital city on Saturday.

Citing the report, Samity Secretary General Md Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury said at least 5,516 road crashes occurred killing 7,855 people and injuring 13,330 others in 2019, when 482 accidents involving railway occurred leaving 469 dead and 706 injured.

In the year, 203 waterway incidents took place in which 219 were killed, 282 injured and 375 went missing. Of the dead, 989 were drivers, 844 transport workers, 809 students, 115 teachers, 216 law enforcers, 36 journalists, 26 doctors, 16 lawyers and engineers and 153 political activists.

Around 19 percent were buses among the transports involved in the accidents, 29.81 percent trucks and covered vans, 5.22 percent SUVs or microbuses, 9.35 percent auto-rickshaws, 21.4 percent motorcycles, 8.04 percent battery-driven rickshaws and easy bikes and 7.32 percent human haulers.The World Health Organization predicts that road traffic injuries will rise to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030.

A report of the global agency says the governments among the United Nations member states need to encourage collaboration between different sectors involved in collecting and reporting data on road traffic injuries. It involves improving data linkages between police, transport and health services as well as increasing human capacity to undertake data collection, the report says.