At least 3,095 people were killed in 3,259 road crashes in Bangladesh in the first seven months of this year. The deaths were more than 40 percent higher than that of the same period last year. The country witnessed a sharp rise in road accidents and deaths this year due to a huge number of small vehicles plying on the highways and a lack of monitoring by the authorities concerned. The government’s monitoring was severely lacking, especially during the Eid rush, to prevent road crashes. Concern over road accidents and fatalities have led to two major movements for road safety since July 2018. Although the authorities promised and undertook several steps to reduce road crashes, the recent data show those initiatives proved futile.
As per police reports, the highest number of accidents in a single month was 543 in May last, when the country witnessed a mad rush of home-goers for the Eid-ul-Fitr. While 2,211 people were killed on roads in the first seven months of last year, the number rose to 3,095 during the same period this year. However, the casualty figures in the police reports are much lower than those stated by different road safety organisations.
As the operation of public transports, especially buses, trains, and launches remained suspended for more than two months since April this year, when the government imposed different types of restrictions to curb the surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, different types of small vehicles like easy-bikes, motorcycles, and private cars ruled the highways, especially during the rush ahead of the Eid-ul Fitr.
Due to a phenomenal rise in the number of motorcycles since 2016, the number of accidents jumped. The rate of bike accidents was 19 percent in 2019, which rose to 27 percent last year. The High Court on July 3, 2014, banned the plying of battery-run rickshaws across the country for not running with valid licences as per the law, but the ban has not been implemented. Non-implementation of traffic rules are reasons behind the sharp rise in the number of road accidents. All stakeholders must act properly to curb the mishaps causing thousands of deaths.
