That the Road Safety Foundation reported that at least 438 lives were lost in crashes across Bangladesh in June alone no longer surprises us, nor elicits any strong response. This is what we have been reduced to, when hundreds of lives lost every month have become so commonplace that the nation collectively barely registers it.
Behind each number lies a family shattered and a community scarred. But most of all, every month, we are reminded that as a nation, we continue to fail to protect citizens on the roads.
The causes are painfully familiar: Reckless driving, unfit vehicles, weak enforcement, and poor infrastructure. Year after year, probes are announced, awareness campaigns launched, and promises made.
Yet the death toll never budges. Road safety in Bangladesh has long been a crisis, yet we seem to be drifting further away from doing something about it.
Despite the public marching in 2018, and despite numerous calls for overhaul, what we continue to lack is structural reform. There remains woeful licensing standards, no mandatory vehicle fitness checks, and no effort to ensure genuine enforcement of traffic laws.
All of this points back to our culture of impunity. Too often, powerful transport owners and reckless drivers escape accountability, undermining justice. Road safety cannot improve until violations carry real consequences.
Bangladesh’s roads should not be death traps, yet they continue to be. Every life lost is a reminder that safety should not be optional but a right for every person in this country.