Motorbike accidents accounted for more than four out of every 10 road deaths in January, as road crashes across Bangladesh claimed 586 lives, according to a report released by Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity.
Motorcycles were involved in 209 crashes, or 37.86 percent of all road accidents, resulting in 223 deaths and 132 injuries.
Motorcycle crashes alone accounted for 40.84 percent of total road fatalities during the month, it said.
The report signed by the organisation’s Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury was prepared based on monitoring of national, regional and online media outlets.
Besides, 1,238 people were injured in 597 road, rail and waterway accidents across the country.
Of the total accidents, 552 were road accidents that left 546 people dead and 1,204 injured.
Railway-related accidents numbered 37, killing 33 people and injuring 28, while eight waterway accidents claimed seven lives, injured six people and left three missing.
Dhaka division recorded the highest number of road accidents, with 132 crashes killing 133 people and injuring 328.
Sylhet division had the lowest toll, reporting 29 accidents that left 28 people dead and 63 injured.
Among those affected in road accidents were 131 drivers, 89 pedestrians, 53 transport workers, 79 students, nine teachers, 62 women and 67 children.
Those killed included two police personnel, two army members, one navy member, four physicians, one freedom fighter, 127 drivers, 89 pedestrians, 54 women, 48 children, 57 students, 21 transport workers, eight teachers and 11 political activists.
A total of 829 vehicles were involved in road crashes. Motorcycles made up 28.46 percent, followed by trucks, pickups, covered vans and lorries at 23.64 percent, buses at 14.35 percent, battery-run rickshaws and easy-bikes at 13.63 percent, CNG-run auto-rickshaws at 5.54 percent, locally made vehicles such as Nasimon, Karimon, Mahindra, tractors and legunas at 9.04 percent, and cars, jeeps and microbuses at 5.30 percent.
In terms of crash patterns, 48.36 percent were run-over incidents, 28.62 percent head-on collisions, 16.84 percent involved vehicles plunging into ditches after losing control, 5.61 percent occurred for miscellaneous reasons, 0.18 percent were caused by scarves getting entangled in wheels and 0.36 percent were train-vehicle collisions.
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The analysis shows that 42.57 percent of accidents occurred on national highways, 27.89 percent on regional highways and 24.09 percent on feeder roads. Another 4.52 percent took place in the Dhaka metropolitan area, 0.54 percent in the Chattogram metropolitan area and 0.36 percent at rail crossings.
The organisation identified several key causes, including policy and strategic weaknesses in the road transport sector, unchecked movement of battery-run auto-rickshaws and other slow-moving vehicles on highways, inadequate road signs and markings, lack of medians and street lighting, construction flaws, unfit vehicles, unskilled drivers, overloading, reckless driving and operating vehicles without adequate rest.
The Samity urged urgent and coordinated measures to strengthen road safety management and enforcement to curb the rising number of fatalities.