Photo: Bonik Barta A staggering 5,619
students have lost their lives in road accidents in the last five years across
the country, averaging three a day. A report released at a press conference on
July 13th by the Road Safety Foundation details the disturbing trend of student
fatalities on the roads.
On July 11th, 2011, a
truck carrying 42 returning students from the Bangabandhu-Bangamata Gold Cup
football tournament lost control and fell into a pond in Mirsharai, Chattogram.
With three others a total of 45 people were killed in that tragic accident.
Commemorating the 13th anniversary of the Mirsharai tragedy, the Road Safety
Foundation held a press conference titled "Students Killed in Road
Accidents: Statistics and Review." Their chairman, Prof AI Mahbub Uddin
Ahmed, presented a report with a breakdown of student fatalities on the road.
He said, "When observing and reviewing the incidents of student deaths in
road accidents, it can be seen that 2,641 school and madrasa students aged 5-17
years along with 2,978 college and university students aged 18-25 have been
killed.
The Road Safety
Foundation report reveals a high number of student death cases in the last five
and a half years. The data also revealed the vulnerability of students, with
1,534 fatalities occurring while they were pedestrians and 721 as passengers.
However, an alarming number of students (2,783) aged 13-25 years lost their
lives while riding motorcycles.
Analyzing the accident
data of the last five and a half years, the Road Safety Foundation revealed a
trend with 1,339 student fatalities on rural roads, 1,486 on city roads, 1,651
on regional roads and 1,143 on highways.
Three-wheeler accidents
(23.66%), trucks (21.30%), buses (9.46%), bicycles/rickshaws (7.69%) and other
vehicles (37.89%) were listed as contributing factors to the tragic death of
these students, the Road Safety Foundation report details.
The Road Safety
Foundation identified the lack of motivational training on road safety in
educational institutions, insufficient media awareness campaign, reckless
motorcycle riding among students and the tendency to disregard traffic laws as
major causes of accidents.
Several recommendations
were outlined in the press conference to reduce student death on the road
including, organizing annual road safety campaigns in educational institutions,
giving road safety training to teachers under government initiatives,
incorporating questions on road safety into class exams, creating awareness
through media campaigns, and removing unsafe vehicles from the road. The
proposal emphasized ensuring safety measures on the roads and preventing minors
from riding motorcycles through strict law enforcement.
