HSCHSC Composition

Road Safety in Bangladesh

Road Safety in Bangladesh.

Road safety in Bangladesh is a concern due to a high number of fatalities in road accidents. The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) has a strategic plan to reduce road crashes. 

Worldwide, the number of people killed in road traffic crashes is estimated to be 1.3 million, with another 50 million injured each year. More than 85 percent of these casualties and 96 percent of total child deaths, occur in low and middle income countries. Road traffic deaths are predicted to increase by 83 percent in low-income and middle-income countries (if no major action is taken) and to decrease by 27 percent in high-income countries over the next 20 years. Sustained declining trends in road fatalities in developed countries have been attributed to concerted efforts in many areas, including effective coordination, community involvement, research on road safety initiatives, the promotion of good road safety practices and improved targeting of resources.

Road traffic accidents have now become a great social concern in Bangladesh and the situation is deteriorating. The annual economic wastage occasioned by traffic accidents is estimated to be in the order of 2 to 3 percent of the GDP. Each year, there are at least 3,000 fatalities and 3,000 grievous and simple injuries from around 3,500 police reported accidents on Bangladesh roads. Other sources estimated the fatalities as high as from 12,000 to 20,000 per year. Thus, the safety problem is very severe by international standards with some 60 to 150 fatalities per 10,000 motor vehicles in Bangladesh compared to around 25, 16, 2 and 1.4 in India, Srilanka, the US and UK respectively.

ROAD safety has been relegated to a least known concept in Bangladesh. Nothing called road safety prevails here. A trend of uncontrolled lawlessness is rampant. Vehicles without fitness, unskilled drivers, violation of traffic rules etc have become norms of the day. All these factors combined and some more contribute to alarming number of road accidents which has become a daily and deadly phenomenon in Bangladesh that has one of the worst crash rates in the world, at more than 60 per 10,000 registered motor vehicles. The official death toll for road traffic accidents is about 4,000 a year.

Road safety activists blame shoddy roads, poorly maintained vehicles and reckless drivers for such fatal accidents causing thousands of deaths every year. Research studies show multifaceted causes of road accidents ranging from population explosion, unplanned urbanization, and tremendous growth of motorised as well as non-motorised vehicles. Improper traffic management is also termed a major cause of road accidents. All these factors combined have made the term ‘road safety’ totally irrelevant. According to the Bangladesh Jatrikalyaan Samiti’s database, 7,397 people were killed in 4,979 road accidents with 16,193 casualties only in 2017. The organization claims that the financial loss due to road accidents will amount to 1.5 to 2.0 per cent of our GDP. The recent tragic accident involving college student Rajib presents the sorry state of road safety in the country.
I am afraid many more may die this way unless the prevailing situation improves. Government intervention to this effect is urgently required. Both print and electronic media should also rise to the occasion with massive campaigns to restore sanity in the transport sector.

The road safety movement did win a concession from the government in the shape of the drafting of Road Transport Act 2018, which is currently awaiting approval by the parliament.

However, road safety campaigners say the new act will serve the interest of transport workers and labourers – and not the general public – as it was approved without consulting any passenger representative.

Reckless driving, a tendency to overtake, a lack of use of foot over bridges, and an overall disregard for traffic responsibility shown by pedestrians are the main reasons behind the frequent road accidents.

According to a recent survey conducted by the organization Nirapad Sarak Chai (NiSCha – We Demand Safe Roads), the number of road accidents in 2016 was 2,316, which grew to 3,349 in 2017 and, until September this year, stands at 2,672.

To promote enhanced road safety, there should be programs to implement well-known engineering measures, leading to larger and longer lasting effects at less expense, widely and systematically. Measures that would achieve greater road safety (likely to also improve traffic flow) and would also offer cost-effective results are listed below.