The number of road accidents in Dhaka has increased by 97.7 per cent in the last one year and the number of casualties from accidents has increased by some 79.56 per cent in the same time.
Most of these accidents happened at night and early morning.
A report by the Road Safety Foundation on the number of road accidents in the capital and subsequent casualties revealed this scenario.
The foundation has identified a number of reasons behind the increase in the number of accidents, including increasing intolerance among people, tendency to cross the roads anywhere at whim and rise in the number of vehicles.
The Road Safety Foundation published the annual report on road accidents in 2022 at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the capital’s Segunbagicha on Saturday.
RSF chairman professor AI Mahbub Uddin said some 246 were killed on the streets in the capital. Among them, some 60.53 per cent were pedestrians. The organisation referred to the reckless movements of heavy vehicles on the street at nights as the reason behind the rise in the number of deaths of pedestrians as there is no bypass.
According to the figures of the Road Safety Foundation, some 137 people were killed in 131 road accidents in Dhaka in 2021. However, the number of road accidents and casualties in 2022 rose to 259 and 246 respectively.
The number of casualties is the second highest among the motorcycle riders at 26.49 per cent. Besides, some 34 per cent of the total number of accidents happened during nights and some 21.62 per cent of these accidents occurred early morning. The number of accidents remained low during noon and evening.
The reasons behind the rise in road accidents are – fewer roads as compared to the number of vehicles, movement of motorised and non-motorised vehicles on the same roads, movement of fast and slow vehicles on the same streets, illegal occupation of footpaths and lack of awareness among the people about the traffic laws.
Speaking to Prothom Alo, Saidur Rahman, executive director of the Road Safety Foundation said, “We are observing a massive rise in the number of vehicles in the capital. Besides, people have become more intolerant. A new tendency of keeping the eyes on mobile phones while crossing the roads here and there at will has also emerged. As a result of these, the number of accidents and subsequent casualties are on the rise simultaneously.”
Number of motorcycle accidents on the rise
The figures of the Road Safety Foundation say that some 40 per cent of the people, who were killed on the roads, are the victims of motorcycle accidents. Most of them aged between 14 to 45 years.
The number of motorcycle accidents is the highest on the regional roads. The organisation referred to the tendency of young and teenage motorcycle riders to not follow the traffic rules as a main reason behind this. They have less idea about traffic laws. Besides, reckless movements of fast vehicles on the national highways are also a big reason behind the rise of motorcycle accidents.
According to the figures of the Road Safety Foundation, some 7,713 were killed and 12,615 were injured in 6,829 road crashes. Among those who were killed in these road accidents, 1,061 were female and 1,143 were children.
The Road Safety Foundation also claimed that the amount of the loss of human resources incurred by these accidents was worth Tk 180.46 billion and some 81.36 per cent of the people who died in these accidents were working people.