Eight years after the deaths of two students sparked a nationwide movement for safer roads, Bangladesh is still struggling to curb the carnage, with more than 9,000 people killed in road crashes last year alone, according to a transport rights organisation.
The slogans of the 2018 movement may still be visible on walls, but the figures tell a grim story of how little progress has been made in preventing deaths on the country’s roads.
According to Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, at least 95,761 people were killed and 168,000 injured in 69,448 road crashes between 2014 and 2025.
The organisation recorded 9,111 deaths in 2025, compared with 7,221 in 2018, an increase of about 26%.
The Road Safety Foundation (RSF), which uses a different method of compiling crash data, recorded 7,359 deaths in 2025.
Although the estimates differ, both point to a heavy toll that continues despite years of demands for reform.
The 2018 movement, triggered by the deaths of two students in Dhaka, brought thousands of young people onto the streets.
Their demands went beyond punishment for reckless drivers: they wanted a transport system in which vehicles were fit to operate, drivers were properly trained and traffic laws were enforced.
Eight years later, many of those problems remain.
Why the roads remain deadly
RSF Executive Director Saidur Rahman identified excessive speed, unfit vehicles, poor road design, inadequate driver training and weak enforcement as major causes of crashes.
But he said the problem extends beyond what happens behind the wheel.
Many bus and truck drivers work without appointment letters, fixed salaries or regulated working hours. The resulting pressure and fatigue can contribute to dangerous driving, he said.
“Most accidents occur because drivers lose control of their vehicles due to excessive speed,” Saidur told Bangla Tribune.
He called for technology-based speed monitoring, better driver training and stronger oversight of the transport sector.
He also urged reforms to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), saying the regulatory system needed greater transparency and accountability.
Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity Secretary General Mozammel Haque Chowdhury called for modernising vehicle fitness checks, removing vehicles that have exceeded their operational lifespan and introducing technology-based traffic enforcement.
The recommendations are hardly new.
Road safety organisations have repeatedly called for better highways, trained drivers, effective enforcement and action against extortion in public transport.
