426 people killed in 392 road accidents in September

bAs many as 426 people were killed and 813 others were injured in 392 road accidents in September, according to the Road Safety Foundation.

Motorcycles were involved in at least 164 road accidents in September, or 42.83 per cent of the total. At least 179 deaths were caused by accidents involving motorcycles, or 42 per cent of the total deaths.

The organisation shared the information on Monday from a study based on reports from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, different electronic media and its own information.

There were 61 women and 53 children among the deaths, the foundation said. Ninety-seven pedestrians died in those accidents, which was 22.76 per cent of the total toll. As many as 54 drivers and their assistants died in the accidents, or 11.67 per cent of the total.

Among the dead, 25 were bus passengers, 22 were truck, pickup, tractor, or trolley riders, 24 were car or microbus passengers, 63 were riding three-wheelers like easybikes and CNG-run autorickshaws, six were passengers on local three-wheelers (Nosimon, Bhatbhati, Alamsadhu), and 10 were bicycle and manual rickshaw riders, the Road Safety Foundation said.

In its observations, the foundation said that 162 accidents occurred on the national highways, which accounted for 41.32 per cent of the total accidents. Another 144 accidents took place on the regional roads, 47 on rural roads, 34 on urban streets and five in other areas.

Dhaka saw the most road accidents with 124, 31.63 per cent of the total. Rajshahi Division saw 10.96 per cent, Chattogram Division saw 19.89 per cent, Khulna Division saw 12.24 per cent, Barishal Division saw 3.82 per cent, Sylhet Division saw 4.84 per cent, Rangpur Division saw 10.45 per cent and Mymensingh Division saw 6.12 per cent of all road accidents.