Over 5,500 people were killed and 6,500 others injured in as much as 4,600 road and naval accidents across the country last year, according to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF) of Bangladesh, an organisation working on accident monitoring and data protection.
Disclosing the figures through a media release on Saturday, Saidur Rahman, executive director of RSF said, "In fact, the death toll is much higher. At least another 1,000 people died other than the 5,553 deaths that were reported, because there is no data for those who died while undergoing treatments.
"According to our records, the number of accidents and deaths in 2021 has increased compared to the last few years. Motorbike accidents have also increased a lot this year (2021)," he added.
Blaming at mismanagement in the transport sector for the situation, Saidur claimed that the government “took no measurers” in this regard.
The data was collected from seven national dailies, five online news portals and electronic media.
The report also revealed that most of the road accidents occurred in the morning, mostly killing pedestrians.
"Reckless driving mentally is a major reason behind these accidents," the RSF executive director said.
Shockingly, Dhaka division witnessed the highest number of accidents and deaths.