Motorcycle accidents accounted for 172 crashes, killing 173 people and injuring 132.
A total of 513 people were killed and 1,336 others injured in 590 road, rail, and waterway accidents across Bangladesh in June, according to a report released by the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (Bangladesh Passengers Welfare Association) on Tuesday.
The report said 532 road accidents claimed 463 lives and injured 1,323 people. It also recorded 53 railway accidents that killed 45 people and injured eight, while five waterway accidents left five people dead and five others injured.
Motorcycle accidents accounted for 172 crashes, killing 173 people and injuring 132. These incidents represented 32.33% of all road accidents and 37.36% of road fatalities recorded during the month.
Chittagong division recorded the highest number of road accidents, with 128 crashes that killed 126 people and injured 373. Mymensingh division recorded the fewest, with 25 accidents that killed 26 people and injured 35.
The report was prepared by the Samity's Accident Monitoring Cell based on media reports. It noted that the actual number of casualties could be higher, as many accidents are not reported in newspapers.
Among those injured in road accidents were 22 law enforcement personnel, 116 drivers, 82 pedestrians, 29 transport workers, 87 students, 10 teachers, 52 women, 55 children, one journalist, one engineer, and 10 political activists.
The fatalities included two police personnel, one army member, 111 drivers, 71 pedestrians, 45 women, 47 children, 60 students, 11 transport workers, 10 teachers, one engineer, and nine political activists.
Of the 795 vehicles identified in road accidents, motorcycles accounted for 26.79%, followed by trucks, pickups, covered vans, and lorries at 25.28%; buses at 17.35%; battery-run rickshaws and e-bikes at 14.96%; CNG-run auto-rickshaws at 5.28%; Nosimon, Korimon, Mahindra, tractors, and Legunas at 4.15%; and cars, jeeps, and microbuses at 6.16%.
According to the report, 43.23% of accidents were head-on collisions, 27.63% involved vehicles hitting pedestrians or other victims, and 20.67% occurred after vehicles lost control and fell into ditches. The remaining accidents involved miscellaneous causes, scarves becoming entangled in vehicle wheels and train-vehicle collisions.
The report said 44.73% of road accidents occurred on national highways, 28.38% on regional highways, and 20.67% on feeder roads. The remainder occurred on the roads in Dhaka and Chittagong cities and at railway crossings.
The Samity cited several causes behind the accidents, including uncontrolled movement of motorcycles and battery-run vehicles on highways, inadequate road signs and lighting, lack of road dividers, poor highway design, mechanical faults, traffic law violations, wrong-way driving, extortion, unskilled drivers, unfit vehicles, overloading, reckless driving, and poor road conditions during the monsoon.
It also said excessive transport fares forced low-income passengers to travel on the roofs of buses and trucks, increasing the risk of fatal accidents.
The Samity recommended placing road transport management under the supervision of local and international transport and road safety experts instead of officials from the Road Transport Ministry and the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
It also recommended developing a modern bus network, introducing technology-based traffic management, improving driver training and licensing, strengthening road safety infrastructure, modernizing the vehicle fitness certification system, enhancing BRTA's capacity, and reforming the transport sector.