339 killed in road crashes during Eid holidays: Jatri Kalyan Samity

A total of 339 people were killed and 1,265 others injured in 277 road accidents across the country during the Eid-ul-Fitr holidays this year, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, a passengers' welfare platform, said on Friday, reports UNB.

Besides, at least 25 people were killed, 55 went missing and nine others injured in accidents on waterways while 41 killed in train accidents during the period, according to a report prepared by the organisation.

Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the association, came up with the statistics at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity.

He said the number of casualties came from accidents that took place between 11 June and 23 June.

Of them, 52 were killed and 150 others injured in 16 road accidents in a span of just 12 hours on 23 June alone, the platform secretary general said.

“The number of accidents is rising alarmingly day by day mainly for the lack of proper monitoring on the roads,” Mozammel said.

The report was prepared based on different reports published on national dailies, regional newspapers and news agencies, he said.

The plying of vehicles without fitness, nonstop driving, reckless driving, unskilled drivers, plying of slow-speed three-wheelers on highways, poor road conditions and speeding tendency of bus drivers to get more trips are the main reasons behind the accidents, the platform leader said.

The Samity also put forward some recommendations to reduce the road accidents.

These include building National Road Safety Council as an effective body to check road crashes, setting up a driver training centre at the national level to create skilled drivers, auditing road safety regularly, arranging adequate quality transport to deal with overcrowding, arranging separate lanes for slow-moving and high-speeding vehicles on highways, implementing the government decision to stop the plying of battery-run vehicles on highways, repairing damaged roads, taking steps to stop the plying of risky vehicles and ensuring the movement of passersby through creating footpaths, underpasses and overpasses on highways.

The secretary general also urged all concerned to follow the directives given by prime minister Sheikh Hasina to reduce road crashes.