At least 614 people were killed and 1,196 more injured in 597 road crashes in the country in May, said a Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh report published on Thursday.
Most of the deaths occurred in accidents involving motorcycles, the report also said, mentioning that 41.69 per cent or 256 people died and 16.8 per cent or 201 more were injured in 39.02 per cent or 233 motorcycle related accidents.
In the Dhaka division, the highest number of road accidents, 139, caused 148 deaths and injuries to 271 people while the lowest number of accidents, 30, occurred in the Barishal division, killing 30 people and injuring 44 more.
Trains were involved in the next highest number of deaths鈥�35 people鈥攚ith 14 more injured in 48 railway accidents.
Nine people were killed and 10 remained missing in seven waterways accidents.
The report was prepared based on reports published in different national dailies, seven online news portals, different electronic media and own sources, said a press release issued by the association.
Of the fatal victims, 176 were transport workers including drivers, 95 were pedestrians, 66 were students, seven political leaders and activists and five teachers.
Fifty-four fatal victims were children in May.
According to the report, the highest, 33.5 per cent road accidents took place on national highways followed by 32.83 per cent on regional highways and 28.14 per cent feeder roads.
Out of total accidents, 3.51 per cent occurred in Dhaka metropolitan city and 1.5 per cent in Chattogram metropolitan city.
Of the accidents, the highest 49.07 per cent were caused when vehicles crushed onto other things followed by 24.95 per cent by head-on collisions, 20.1 per cent by the vehciles falling into roadside ditches as the drivers lost control of the vehicles, 5.02 per cent by other reasons, 0.5 per cent by collision between trains and other vehciles and 0.33 per cent by tangling scarves on vehicle wheels.
The association blamed frequent movement of motorcycles and battery-run rickshaws on roads and highways, the absence of traffic lights, marking, signs and signals on national highway, faults in road construction, reckless driving and movement of unfit vehciles on roads.
The association recommended stop importing smaller vehicles like motorcycles and battery-run rickshaws, sufficient lights on highways during night time, initiatve for making skilled drivers, separate lanes for slow-moving vehicles, complete data banks on road crashes, the smart public transport system, enforcing laws strictly to improve the situations and scarping old outdated vehicles.
According to the association, in April this year at least 583 people were killed and 1,202 more injured in 567 road crashes in the country.
In 2024, as per the PWAB, a total of 8,543 people were killed and 12,608 were injured in 6,359 road accidents. In an average 712 people were killed in each month in 2024, the association report showed.
