408 deaths in 491 road accidents in May: Road Safety Foundation

In May, there were 491 road accidents in the country, leaving 408 people dead and 631 injured. Of the deceased, 67 were women and 78 children.

As many as 141 people were dead in 156 motorcycle accidents, accounting for 34.55 percent of the total deaths. The motorcycle accident rate is 31.77 percent. As many as 104 pedestrians were killed in accidents, which is 25.49 percent of the total fatalities, according to a press release of the Road Safety Foundation.

The Road Safety Foundation has prepared the report based on information from nine national dailies, seven online news portals and electronic media.

Seventy-two drivers and their assistants were dead in road accidents last month, which is 17.64 percent of the total.

During this period, four people were killed and two were missing in six boat accidents. Twenty-three people were killed and six injured in 25 railway accidents, said the release.

According to statistics on vehicle-based deaths in accidents, 141 motorcyclists and pillion riders were killed (34.55%); bus passengers killed were six (1.47%); truck, covered-van, pickup, tractor, trolley, lorry, tanker riders killed were 36 (8.82%); private car, microbus, ambulance riders dead were 18 (4.41%); 68 three-wheeler passengers (easy bike, auto-rickshaw, mishuk) riders dead (16.66%); 15 (3.67%) killed in locally modified vehicle (Nosimon-Karimon-Mahindra-Brickbhanga machine cars) accidents; and 20 (4.90%) were killed in bicycle-rickshaw-rickshaw van accidents.

According to the Road Safety Foundation‍‍`s monitoring and analysis, 165 (33.60%) of the accidents occurred on national highways, 201 (40.93%) on regional roads, 73 (14.86%) on rural roads, 48 (9.77%) on urban roads and 4 (0.81%) in other places, it said.