40pc crashes on Dhaka streets happen at night: RSF

Almost 40 percent of the crashes in Dhaka take place at night mainly due to reckless driving by goods-laden trucks and lorries, according to the Road Safety Foundation.

It said over 40 percent of the 243 people killed in crashes in the city last year were pedestrians.

Across the country, at least 6,524 people were killed and 11,407 injured in 6,911 crashes in 2023, the road safety campaigner told a press conference at its office in Dhanmondi yesterday.

Of the deceased, 1,128 (17.29 percent) were children and 974 (14.92 percent) women.

At least 2,487 (38.12 percent) were killed in 2,532 crashes involving motorcycles, said Prof AI Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, chairman of the organisation.

The organisation prepared the statistics compiling media reports and its own sources, he said.

The country incurred losses amounting to Tk 16,910 crore due to the loss of human resource caused by the crashes last year, it said, citing the International Road Assessment Program.

The amount lost could be 1.5 percent of the country's GDP if the number of victims and damage to properties were counted properly, it added.

DHAKA DEADLY AT NIGHT

At least 243 people were killed and 336 injured in 297 crashes. Of the victims, 83.16 percent were men while the rest were women and children.

Of the crashes, 40.19 percent took place at night and 16.26 in the morning, 10.52 percent in the early morning, 13.87percent in the afternoon and the rest in the evening, it said.

Goods-laden vehicles were involved in 31.25 percent crashes, buses in 18.75 percent, bikes in 25 percent, cars in 6.25 percent, and other vehicles in the rest of the accidents.

The organisation said goods-laden vehicles are driven recklessly at night due to lack of bypass roads, resulting deaths of huge number of pedestrians.

Inadequate roads, operation of mechanised and non-mechanised vehicles, occupation of footpaths by vendors, recklessness among drivers due to congestion are responsible for the crashes, it said.

The organisation, however, said a greater number of people were killed in Chattogram city last year: 289 people were killed and 443 injured.

CHILD VICTIMS OF CRASHES

Among the 1,128 child victims, 532 (47.16 percent) were killed while crossing roads while 329 (29.16 percent) were either passengers or drivers of vehicles and 267 (23.67 percent) were on bikes, it said.

The highest 32.44 percent children became victims in the afternoon, 24.91 percent in the morning, and 22.69 percent in the evening.

Lack of awareness about safety, roads not being child friendly, unskilled drivers and lack of treatment facilities for child victims were the main causes, it said.

It said 1,053 students of different institutions and 942 transport workers were among the child victims.

BIKES CAUSING MORE DEATHS

At least 2,487 people were killed and 1,943 were injured in 2,532 crashes involving motorcycles last year. Besides, 1,909 of the victims (75.39 percent) were aged between 14 and 45 years.

The riders were solely responsible for 36.21 percent of the bike accidents while drivers of buses and goods-laden vehicles were responsible for 51.21 percent.

The organisation said 1,452 pedestrians were killed last year.

Saidur Rahman, executive director of the organisation, said although the number of deaths fell by 15.41 percent compared to 2022, the number of crashes rose by 1.2 percent.

Operations of a smaller number of goods-laden vehicles due to the dollar crisis and some good initiatives taken by the authority could be the reason behind the smaller number of deaths.

But the improvement may not be sustainable as the road transport sector did not see any systemic change, he added.