Child death in road accidents on the rise: Road Safety Foundation

Even children are not being spared from road accidents. Three children – Rehan Mia, 5, Afrin Haque, 7 and Sheikh Nayeem, 13, were killed in road accidents in the last two days alone. According to the Road Safety Foundation, some 226 children have died in the first three months of 2022. This number is increasing every month.

Afrin Haque was going to school with her father on a motorcycle. On her way to school she was injured in a truck accident. She was brought to a hospital in Dhaka but couldn’t be saved even after amputating one of her legs.

The family has lodged a case over this incident. However, the truck driver is yet to be arrested.

Rihan Mia of Brahmanbaria went out with his aunt in the evening. While walking along the road in the village, he was run over by a battery powered auto-rickshaw. His family hasn’t filed any case in this regard.

Seventh grader Sheikh Nayeem was returning home by bicycle. He is from Faridpur. On his way home, he was killed after a tractor ran over him. The driver of the tractor has been imprisoned over this incident.

The Road Safety Foundation has revealed the figures on road accidents in January, February and March. According to those figures, some 63 children were killed in January, 67 in February and 96 in March.

Speaking to Prothom Alo, Prof Md Hadiuzzaman, director of Accident Research Institute (ARI) at the Bangladesh University of Science and Technology (BUET), said special attention is paid to ensure road safety for the children abroad, especially when they are off to school. But Bangladesh is yet to set up a safe road infrastructure. A safe transport system for the children or the common people cannot be ensured as yet. Therefore, even the children are not being spared. The number of auto-rickshaw and motorcycle has increased as there is no alternative.

Mentioning that the children are more vulnerable in case of road accidents, he further said, children are at higher risk of death in road accidents. Due to the development projects, heavy vehicles have become available on the roads in rural areas. This has also increased the risk of accidents.

The Road Safety Foundation, after analysing data from various media outlets, said that there were 458 road accidents in the country in March this year. It killed 589 people and injured 647 others. Among the dead were 61 women. Of the total people killed, 37.42 per cent were motorcyclists. The rate of motorcycle accidents is 37.52 per cent. The pedestrians are second on this list. Some 27.50 per cent of the deceased are pedestrians.

According to the organisation, the number of trucks, covered vans and pickups among the vehicles involved in the accident in March was the highest at 28.76 per cent. This is followed by motorcycles at 22 per cent, three-wheelers at 16.12 per cent and buses at 13.71 per cent.

The highest number of accidents occurred on regional roads in March. Some 39.08 per cent of the total road accidents occurred on regional roads. This is followed by national highways with 36.46 per cent accidents and roads in rural areas at 14.84 per cent.

Dhaka division saw the highest number of 117 road accidents, killing 181 people while Sylhet division reported the lowest number of 26 road crashes, claiming 35 lives. Dhaka as a district also witnessed the highest number of 33 road crashes, killing 37 people while Narayanganj district saw the lowest number of 19 road crashes, claiming 21 lives.

Considering the victim’s identity, students are at the top of the list. According to the Road Safety Foundation, casualties in road accidents rose 13.83 per cent in March killing 19 people a day. Some 78.60 per cent of the road crash victims are aged between 18 to 65 years.