555 lives lost on roads last month

At least 555 people were killed and 1,031 injured in 503 road accidents across the country last month, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity said yesterday.

Among the dead were 44 children, 62 women, 123 drivers and 34 students, the organisation said in a press release.

It said 210 people were killed in 173 road crashes involving motorcycles, which is 37.83 percent of the total fatalities last month.

The Samity prepared the report based on media reports.

It said 36 percent of the accidents took place on national highways while 18.48 percent on regional highways and 39.76 percent occurred on other roads.

The Samity said 37 people were killed in 38 rail related accidents while seven killed and four injured in five accidents in rivers.

The organisation identified seven reasons, including non-implementation of traffic laws and corruption in regulatory bodies, for road crashes.

It also made eight recommendations including taking initiatives to have more skilled drivers to reduce road crashes.