Over 50pc road crash victims 21-40 yrs old

More than half of road crash victims are between 21 and 40 years old, the most productive segment of the population, according to Accident Research Institute (ARI) of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet). 

Around 43 percent of road crashes happened on national highways, while 23 percent took place on city roads. Out of all city road accidents, 74 percent occurred in the capital, according to ARI research.

Pedestrians are predominantly road crash victims; 70 percent of pedestrians involved in crashes died, it stated.

ARI prepared the analytics based on police's first information report (FIR) on road accidents between 1998 to 2014. ARI Director Prof Md Hadiuzzaman yesterday presented the data at a seminar.

Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), in association with ARI, organised the event on "Road Safety in Dhaka City and Role and Initiative of DTCA" at a Buet auditorium.

Citing police data, Prof Hadiuzzaman said some 2,700 people get killed and 2,400 injured in more than 3,000 road crashes annually in Bangladesh.

He, however, said police data is "under-reported", as the number of injured persons should be 10 times higher than fatalities.

Prof Hadiuzzaman said 52.4 percent of road crash victims are from 21-40 age group.

When asked for the reason, he told The Daily Star that these people usually must support their families economically, so they must travel by road the most, making them more vulnerable to such crashes.

Besides, he said roads are not pedestrian-friendly, yet a huge number of pedestrians take to the streets regularly, and most road infrastructure designs do not have adequate safety measures.

When asked about city roads and pedestrian casualties, he said 40-45 percent of commuters in Dhaka city are pedestrians, but 40-50 percent of roads do not have footpaths, and existing footpaths are not properly usable.

He said most accidents took place at intersections. Police manage most intersections manually, and pedestrians try to cross roads without following traffic rules, falling victim to accidents.

Prof Hadiuzzaman said it would be difficult to halve road crashes by 2030 without taking drastic measures.

PROJECT FOR ROAD SAFETY

DTCA, in consultation with ARI, has taken a project to identify most hazardous road locations in Dhaka city and prepare school zoning and road-safety booklets for children, after risk assessment.

Mamunur Rahman, director of Road Safety Management and Capacity Building Project, said the Tk 4.96 crore project is supposed to be implemented between January, 2020 and June, 2021.

However, they started work in September due to the pandemic, he said, adding that they would formulate urban streetscape guideline, road safety audit guideline and work-zone guideline under the project.

ROAD SAFETY OUR PRIORITY: QUADER

Taking part in the programme virtually, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said ensuring road safety is their priority.

Mentioning that sudden death on roads is not expected, and each death is painful, he said although a lot of discussions, seminars and meetings are held on road safety, progress on implementation is not good.

"We are constructing four-lane, six-lane and eight-lane roads, but we could not ensure road safety yet," he said. "There is nothing to hide here; we have to tell the truth. Road crashes are our main concern now."

"Whatever infrastructure development is taking place, if we can't bring discipline in the road and transport sector, we can't ensure safety. All our development would fall flat," he said.

With DTCA Executive Director Khandakar Rakibur Rahman in the chair, Buet Vice Chancellor Prof Satya Prasad Majumder, pro-VC Prof Abdul Jabbar Khan, Road Transport and Highway Division Secretary Nazrul Islam and road-safety activist Ilias Kanchan, among others, spoke at the programme.