Reports: 416 lives lost on road during Eid holiday

Road accidents during the Eid-ul-Fitr holiday claimed at least 416 lives in just 15 days from April 26 even though this year’s Eid journey was more comfortable than ever before for the home-goers.

at least 27 people also met the same fate in accidents on rail and waterways in the country during the 15-day period, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Shamiti said on Thursday.

Around 372 accidents took place on roads and highways and 844 people sustained injuries, besides 30 accidents occurred on rail and waterways and some 24 people received injuries from April 26 to May 10, revealed the passenger welfare forum while presenting its road accident report-2022 at a press conference at Dhaka Reporters’ Unity on Thursday.

The number of accidents involving motorcycles was the highest this year as a total of 164 accidents involving motorcycles took place during the period and 145 people lost their lives and 110 sustained injuries, the report said.

The statistics show that the motorcycle-related accident is 44.08 percent of the total road accident, death 34.85 percent and injury 13.03 percent.

In 2021, the road accidents during Eid-ul-Fitr holiday claimed 323 lives in 15 days, even though long-haul buses were off the road due to Covid-19 lockdown.

Compared to the Eid-ul-Fitr of 2021, the number of road accidents increased by 14.51 percent, fatality by 22.35 percent and the number of injured by 26.30 percent.

The Eid was celebrated on May 3 during and the Eid journey began from April 26 this year. The number of road accidents normally increase as people’s movement surges during such festivals.

Mozammel Haque Chowdhury, secretary general of the Shamiti, said the people’s rush this year was higher than that of the previous year as the people got the chance to celebrate Eid-ui-Fitr after two years due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

around 25 lakh motorcycles and 40 lakh easy-bikes added to the roads this year contributed to the increase of road accidents this year, he said.