Photo : Collected
From 2019 to June 2024 at least 5,619 students have been killed in road accidents. Road Safety Foundation (RSF) published the report during a press conference titled "Student Fatalities in Road Accidents: Statistics and Analysis" at its Dhaka office today (13 July), marking the Mirsarai tragedy.
Students alone accounted for 16.29% of all road accident fatalities during this period, with the total number of deaths being 34,478.
While returning from the Bangabandhu-Bangamata Gold Cup football tournament at Mirsarai Stadium, 45 died including 42 students when a pickup truck carrying them overturned into a pond beside the road in Chattogram's Mirsarai on 11 July 2011.
The report noted that some 2,641 victims - aged between 5 and 17 - were from schools and madrasas, accounting for 47% of the total.
Meanwhile, 2,978 victims - aged between 18 and 25 - from colleges and universities, making up 53%, the organisation said after analysing incidents of student fatalities in road accidents.
The Road Safety Foundation made several recommendations to prevent such accidents, including not allowing underage individuals to ride motorcycles, strict enforcement of laws, organising road safety campaigns in educational institutions, government initiatives to train teachers on road safety, introducing road safety topics in exams, banning unsafe vehicles, ensuring safety measures on roads near educational institutions, and creating awareness.
Messenger/Mumu
