Bangladesh is observing National Road Safety Day on Thursday with seminars, discussions and fresh pledges, but the deaths on its roads show no sign of slowing down.
This year’s theme is “Safe Roads, Prosperous Nation, Bangladesh First.”
According to the latest report of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), 4,285 road crashes took place between January and September this year, killing 4,157 people and injuring 5,391. That is more than 15 deaths every day on average.
Recently, the latest deadly accident occurred on Tuesday in Natore’s Baraigram, where 12 people were killed, and at least 25 were injured when a bus collided head-on with a truck at Bonpara.
Police and injured passengers said the RP Special Paribahan bus was being driven by supervisor Sohel Rana at the time, while the regular driver and his assistant were sleeping in the back seats.
Ramjan Ali, an injured passenger from Gomostapur upazila in Chapainawabganj, said the bus reached Pabna’s Ishwardi around 3am. After a break at a hotel, the driver left his seat, and the supervisor started driving.
About an hour later, the bus collided with an oncoming truck at Bonpara.
Thirteen years, over 125,000 dead
The Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity said 72,736 crashes between 2013 and the end of 2025 killed at least 125,405 people and left 176,249 permanently disabled.
Between January 2020 and September 2026, 7,963 children were killed on the roads, according to the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).
Of them, 2,958 died in motorcycle crashes, 2,812 were killed as pedestrians, and 2,193 died as passengers in buses and other public transport.
Unfit vehicles, unlicensed drivers
BRTA records show 6,724,647 registered vehicles in the country, of which 4,997,090 are motorcycles. There are 87,285 buses and minibuses.
Around 650,000 vehicles are plying the roads without registration, route permits or fitness certificates, while more than 75,000 buses and trucks are running beyond their government-set economic life of 20 years for buses and 25 years for trucks.
About 70% of buses and minibuses in Dhaka and other major cities lack valid fitness papers. A Buet study found unfit vehicles responsible for around 20% of daily crashes.
BRTA data shows more than 6 million battery-run three-wheelers on the roads. Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed told parliament in September that the number is between 5-8 million, including 1 to 1.2 million in Dhaka.
Of the 5,946,523 licensed drivers, an estimated 2.3 to 2.5 million are professionals. There is a shortage of about 30% of qualified professional drivers for heavy and medium vehicles, while 1.1 to 1.2 million drivers who passed BRTA tests have yet to receive smart card licences.
Motorcycles were involved in nearly 40% of crashes over the past two years.
73% of drivers have eye problems
In a BRTA and Dhaka Ahsania Mission health camp in October 2023, around 73% of the 541 drivers who took eye tests were found to need glasses. Of 824 drivers screened, 400 had high blood sugar, and 258 had high blood pressure.
The BRTA has recently begun free eye tests at terminals and decided to make eye test reports mandatory for renewing professional licences.
Enforcement drive
The BRTA said it filed more than 110,000 cases over nine months through mobile courts and joint drives with traffic police for unfit vehicles, invalid licences, wrong-way driving and speeding.
Dilapidated vehicles have been seized and licences of repeat offenders have been suspended or cancelled, the authority said.
111 recommendations
In 2019, the National Road Safety Council identified seven priority areas and made 111 recommendations for road safety. Experts say there has been no visible implementation.
The UN’s Second Decade of Action for Road Safety (2021-2030) aims to halve road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
The government has said it will enact a comprehensive road safety law by December 2027. The draft “Road Safety Act 2026” proposes free emergency treatment for the injured, legal protection for rescuers under a Good Samaritan provision, demerit points for violators and double fines for repeat offences.
Regarding road safety issues, Kazi Md Saifun Newaz, assistant professor from Buet said: “Everyone knows the causes of road crashes and their remedies. What is missing is consistent and coordinated action,”.
He further said Bangladesh already has the Road Transport Act 2018 and the Road Transport Rules 2022, but laws alone do not make roads safe, he added. “Observing days will not solve anything.”
Ahead of road safety day, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said about 80% of passengers travelled by river and rail before independence, before the transport system was made road-centric without a long-term master plan.
He alleged that institutional inefficiency, corruption at the BRTA and a hidden syndicate of owners and workers now hold the sector hostage.
Road Safety Foundation, executive director, Saidur Rahman expressed: “The authorities know the causes and the consequences, but there is no remedy.”
He further said children suffer most on rural roads, which run beside homesteads, where vehicles ignore rules and law enforcers are rarely present.
Sharmin Rahman, project coordinator of Dhaka Ahsania Mission’s road safety project, said many drivers see signboards, bends and dividers as blurred, and some cannot tell red from green signals. She called for regular free eye and diabetes camps and mandatory certificates from registered eye specialists for licences.
Earlier, speaking at a UN high-level meeting in New York, Minister of Road Transport and Bridges, Shaikh Rabiul Alam, said the government is committed to enacting a comprehensive road safety law by December 2027 and that the draft is ready.
He also reaffirmed Bangladesh’s commitment to halving road deaths and serious injuries by 2030.