Road safety in Bangladesh has long been considered a national emergency. Every day, lives are lost to reckless driving, poorly designed infrastructure, unenforced regulations, and an institutional culture that treats preventable deaths as routine. From bustling city intersections to rural highways, the risks are ever-present, and the consequences all too familiar: Death and destruction.
Recent data shared by the Road Safety Foundation point to yet another damning trend -- based on data from nine national newspapers, seven online news portals, electronic media, and its own sources, the organization reports that road accidents during Eid-ul-Adha this year have reached the highest level in five years. In just 12 days surrounding Eid-ul-Adha this year, there were nearly 350 road accidents -- these accidents, which included women and children among the victims, claimed the lives of 312 people, which is an average of 26 deaths per day, as per the research.
These are not just numbers, they are shattered families, orphaned children, and a national shame.
We cannot say we were unaware. The 2018 student movement for road safety was a watershed moment in Bangladesh’s civic consciousness. Teenagers, grieving the loss of classmates to a reckless driver, took to the streets to demand accountability, order, and justice. Their calls resonated across the nation and spurred the passage of the Road Transport Act 2018. At the time, it felt like a turning point.
Of course, as we all know now, legislation alone does not save lives but rather implementation, and on that front the previous government’s promises of improved road safety were broken time and again. Policy-makers cannot continue to point to laws on paper while failing to uphold them in practice. Public deaths on the highways cannot be treated as acceptable collateral during festive migrations.
There are no two ways about it: Bangladesh must adopt a truly modern road safety approach which means creating forgiving road infrastructure, ensuring vehicles are roadworthy, training drivers with real rigour, and enforcing the law consistently and transparently.
We have seen enough death and destruction on our roads and highways. It is time we took an exit off this highway.
Recent data shared by the Road Safety Foundation point to yet another damning trend -- based on data from nine national newspapers, seven online news portals, electronic media, and its own sources, the organization reports that road accidents during Eid-ul-Adha this year have reached the highest level in five years. In just 12 days surrounding Eid-ul-Adha this year, there were nearly 350 road accidents -- these accidents, which included women and children among the victims, claimed the lives of 312 people, which is an average of 26 deaths per day, as per the research.
These are not just numbers, they are shattered families, orphaned children, and a national shame.
We cannot say we were unaware. The 2018 student movement for road safety was a watershed moment in Bangladesh’s civic consciousness. Teenagers, grieving the loss of classmates to a reckless driver, took to the streets to demand accountability, order, and justice. Their calls resonated across the nation and spurred the passage of the Road Transport Act 2018. At the time, it felt like a turning point.
Of course, as we all know now, legislation alone does not save lives but rather implementation, and on that front the previous government’s promises of improved road safety were broken time and again. Policy-makers cannot continue to point to laws on paper while failing to uphold them in practice. Public deaths on the highways cannot be treated as acceptable collateral during festive migrations.
There are no two ways about it: Bangladesh must adopt a truly modern road safety approach which means creating forgiving road infrastructure, ensuring vehicles are roadworthy, training drivers with real rigour, and enforcing the law consistently and transparently.
We have seen enough death and destruction on our roads and highways. It is time we took an exit off this highway.
