Jaywalkers top railway deaths

It was a morning like any other when Sabbir Hossain was going to take tuition at a coaching centre. With headphones tightly pressed in his ears, he was listening to his favorite music and casually walking on the rail-tracks.

As a train approached him from behind, locals at the scene started to shout out to warn him; sadly he could not hear and the train ran over the teenage boy.  

This unfortunately is a very common scenario in Bangladesh. The idea of strolling, sitting and setting up shops on rail tracks is not uncommon. 

The Daily Star has gathered its news reports on train accidents from 2008 to present and found out that over 50 percent of the deaths were caused because of careless jaywalkers.

Moreover, it has been observed that many of these people who walk on rail tracks often do so while talking on mobile phones or using headphones. This makes it difficult for them to hear the alarms.

A hundred railway-related deaths on average are reported year, and half these victims are jaywalkers. In another study on road accidents in Dhaka carried out by The Daily Star, it was seen that 40 percent of the victims were jaywalkers.

Trains hitting other vehicles on the tracks are also phenomenon that is not too uncommon. A total of 122 collisions have been reported on The Daily Star alone since 2008. Trucks, buses and three-wheelers are the most frequent vehicles for such accidents.

Reckless driving and absence of gatekeepers at level crossings contribute to such accidents. According to Bangladesh Railway data, only 13 percent of 1,550 level crossings in the country are manned round the clock.

Rooftop journey on trains have also caused significant number of deaths.

Limitations

Between 2008 and 2015, 586 train accident incidents were reported in The Daily Star. The trends have been found by sourcing information from these incidents only.