At least 249 people were killed in road accidents during the recent Eid holiday travel period in Bangladesh, according to a press release from the Road Safety Foundation.
The organization stated in the press release, issued on Monday (April 7th), that 257 road accidents occurred across the country in the 11 days before and after Eid-ul-Fitr (from March 26th to April 5th), resulting in the deaths of 249 individuals. According to media reports, 553 people were injured during this time. However, the actual number of injured is estimated to be over 2,000.
The statement highlighted that the National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) in Dhaka alone admitted 571 people injured in road accidents in the two days of Eid. It further noted that the majority of the injured were victims of motorcycle accidents, suggesting that the total number of injured nationwide would exceed 2,000. Among the deceased, 41 were women and 59 were children.
The Road Safety Foundation reported that 106 people were killed in 114 motorcycle accidents, accounting for 42.57% of the total fatalities. The rate of motorcycle accidents was 44.35% of all incidents. Pedestrians accounted for 39 deaths (15.66% of total), while drivers and their assistants accounted for 32 deaths (12.85% of total). During this period, 13 people were killed and 15 injured in 6 waterway accidents, and 12 people were killed and 8 injured in 17 railway accidents.
The Road Safety Foundation compiled this report based on information published in nine national dailies, seven online news portals, electronic media, and their own data.
The press release further detailed the types of vehicles involved in the fatalities: motorcycle drivers and passengers (106, or 42.57%), bus passengers (14, or 5.62%), truck-pickup-tractor-trolley passengers (9, or 3.61%), private car-microbus passengers (18, or 7.22%), three-wheeler passengers (easy bike-CNG-auto-rickshaw-auto-van) (49, or 19.67%), locally made vehicle passengers (Nosimon-Korimon-Pakhivan-Mahindra-Tomtom-Algaamon) (10, or 4%), and bicycle riders (4, or 1.60%).
According to the Road Safety Foundation's observations and analysis, 87 (33.85%) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 98 (38.13%) on regional roads, 43 (16.73%) on rural roads, and 29 (11.28%) on city roads.
The causes of these accidents included head-on collisions (68, or 26.45%), loss of control (113, or 43.96%), hitting/pushing pedestrians (41, or 15.95%), rear-end collisions (24, or 9.33%), and other reasons (11, or 4.28%).
