At least 5,619 students have died in road accidents over the past five and a half years, from 2019 to June 2024, according to a report by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).
These findings were disclosed during a press conference titled "Student Fatalities in Road Accidents: Statistics and Analysis" held at the RSF office in Dhaka on Saturday, marking the anniversary of the Mirsharai tragedy.
During this period, students comprised 16.29% of all road accident fatalities, with a total of 34,478 deaths reported.
The press conference underscored the urgent need for measures to enhance road safety due to the high number of student deaths.
Our road accident prevention is spinning outMirsharai Tragedy Day is locally observed in memory of the 45 people, including 42 students, who died when a pickup truck carrying them overturned into a pond beside the road in Chittagong's Mirsharai on July 11, 2011.
The students were returning from the Bangabandhu-Bangamata Gold Cup football tournament at Mirsharai Stadium.
The report highlighted that 2,641 victims, aged between 5 and 17, were from schools and madrasas, representing 47% of the total student fatalities. Meanwhile, 2,978 victims, aged between 18 and 25, were from colleges and universities, making up 53%.
Additionally, the report revealed that around 833 students lost their lives over the past five and a half years due to carelessly crossing railway tracks and walking along rail lines while wearing headphones.
"Numerous major accidents have occurred since the tragic incident in Mirsharai. However, no long-term sustainable plan has been implemented to establish discipline in the road transport sector. The initiatives being taken are largely unscientific and uncoordinated," said Dr AI Mahbub Uddin Ahmed, RSF chairman and professor at the Department of Sociology at Dhaka University.
"To establish order in the chaotic road transport sector, a long-term, integrated sustainable transport strategy must be implemented," he added.
During the press conference, the RSF identified several reasons for student fatalities in road accidents, including faulty roads and unsafe vehicles, a lack of knowledge about safe road usage, and a tendency among students to ride motorcycles recklessly.
To prevent such accidents, the RSF made several recommendations, including prohibiting underage individuals from riding motorcycles, strictly enforcing road safety laws, organizing road safety campaigns in educational institutions, government initiatives to train teachers on road safety, introducing road safety topics in exams, banning unsafe vehicles, ensuring safety measures on roads near educational institutions, and raising public awareness about road safety.
The RSF also called for the national observance of "Mirsharai Tragedy Day."
They believe that recognizing this day on a national level will raise awareness about road safety among students through activities at educational institutions and express sympathy to the families of the deceased students.
