United News of Bangladesh

A total of 394 road accidents across Bangladesh claimed the lives of 402 people and left 1,294 others injured during the Eid-ul-Azha travel period this year, according to the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity (BJKS). Including rail and waterway accidents, the total tally rose to 442 across all transport modes, killing 438 people and injuring 1,340 others during the 15-day period from May 21 to June 4, it said in a report on Sunday. Besides, thirty-one rail accidents resulted in 23 deaths and 30 injuries, while 17 waterway accidents killed 13 and injured 16. Compared to last year's Eid-ul-Azha, road accidents rose 3.95 percent, fatalities increased 3.07 percent, and injuries jumped 9.47 percent. In 2025, 379 road accidents had killed 390 people and injured 1,182 during the same festive period. BJKS Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury presented the findings at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters’ Unity in the morning, calling for urgent structural reforms to the country's public transport system. “What is needed is not 10 to 12 days of government activity around Eid, but short, medium and long-term planning to save lives and reduce travel misery,” he said, stressing the need for a modern bus network modelled on developed countries, technology-based road management, and the gradual removal of small vehicles from highways. Motorcycles were once again the deadliest vehicle category, involved in 153 accidents that killed 159 people and injured 180, accounting for 38.83 percent of all road accidents during the period. In terms of vehicle types involved across all accidents, motorcycles made up 28.90 percent, followed by trucks and covered vans at 21.40 percent, buses at 16.56 percent, battery-powered rickshaws at 12.34 percent, cars and microbuses at 7.81 percent, locally-made light vehicles (nosimon-korimon) at 6.56 percent, and CNG-run auto-rickshaws at 6.40 percent. Among the victims, 80 were drivers, 89 transport workers, 59 pedestrians, 64 women, 45 children, and 66 students. Three journalists, one doctor, one engineer, and five law enforcement members were also among the victims. Analysis of accident types shows that 46.44 percent were head-on collisions, 29.18 percent involved vehicles running over pedestrians or ramming others, and 17.25 percent involved vehicles losing control and falling into ditches or off roads. Train-vehicle collisions accounted for 1.52 percent, with the remaining 5.58 percent attributed to other or unidentified causes. Half of all accidents – 50.50 percent – occurred on national highways, 30.71 percent on regional highways, and 14.46 percent on feeder roads. The organisation identified several systemic causes behind this year's toll: unregulated movement of motorcycles and battery-powered vehicles on national highways; absence of road signs, lane markings, and streetlights; roads riddled with potholes following rain; a severe driver shortage forcing 80 percent of vehicles to operate continuously with a single driver; defective and life-expired buses being pushed into service by profit-seeking owners; and low-income passengers being forced onto bus rooftops or cargo trucks due to exorbitant fares. It urged the government to develop and implement short, medium, and long-term road safety plans, modernise the vehicle fitness certification system; remove expired public transport; expand BRTA's enforcement capacity; establish a traffic training academy; and end the monopoly control of bus owner associations and worker federations over the transport sector.

Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samiti (BJKS), a passengers' welfare platform, on Saturday (January 20, 2024) demanded the government introduce 5,000 new high-quality buses on the streets under a company with the government's management by removing existing rickety vehicles from the capital. Secretary General of the BJKS Md. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury raised the demand in a press conference organised at the city's Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday morning. In a written statement, he said that the current government has pledged that the country will join the ranks of developed countries by 2026. The government is determined to improve the public transport system in Dhaka and elsewhere. Quoting a JICA survey, the BJKS's secretary general said that there are currently 4 crore daily passenger trips in the capital. Consumer protection a top priority at DITF: Commerce State Minister There is a huge scope for transport business, and the transportation system of the city can be changed overnight through bus service if only extortion is stopped and dedicated bus lanes can be introduced, he said. There are examples of owning 600-800 buses of many transport companies in Bangladesh after they started plying on the streets with one bus. However, the state transport agency BRTC is not able to operate buses under its own management and is leasing them out to private individuals and institutions. The number of these buses is decreasing due to lack of maintenance, he added. Dutch NGOs reaffirm interests in Bangladesh He urged the government, instead of bureaucracy in the management of BRTC, if BRTC can be managed by appointing managers with technical knowledge and experience in managing bus companies from the international market. it will play a major role in the passenger transport sector besides making BRTC profitable, he said. The BJKS said that due to incompetence of leadership, inefficiency of management, lack of proper monitoring and monopolistic dominance of political contractors, corruption is going on. The new government has made political commitment to establish good governance in these sectors. ”We want to see the reflection of this commitment of the government by ensuring quality and accountability in every project involving road, rail, sea and air,” he added. Dengue claims two more lives

Road accidents during the recent Eid-ul-Azha holiday rush claimed 273 lives in just 15 days, even though long-haul buses were operating for just eight of those days, according to the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Shamiti (Passenger Welfare Association). At least 240 road crashes occurred during the July 14- 28 period, BJKS revealed, while presenting its road accident report-2021 at a press briefing on Friday. Members of the road accidents monitoring cell of the organisation prepared the report collecting information from widely published and trustworthy national, regional, daily newspapers and online portals over the 15 days covered. The report also said 447 people were injured in the accidents that occurred at a time when lakhs of people hit the road to go home and celebrate the Eid festival with their families -home being wherever one's family may be permanently resident, either village or district away from urban centres. The report also stated that among the deceased, 27 were women, 17 children, 53 pedestrians, 16 transport workers, and 87 drivers.    Read: 7 die in separate accidents in Bagerhat BJKS also tallied the types of accident most prevalent. They find that roughly a quarter (25.8%) are head-on collisions, and even more overwhelmingly, over 44%  feature pedestrians struck or overrun by vehicles. A little over 18% are cases of the driver losing control and falling into a ditch.  Like other years, motorcycles were the most lethal form of transport, recording 93 deaths in 87 accidents. This accounts for 36.25% of the total accidents and 34.06 % of the total deaths recorded.

Road accidents in Bangladesh is still one of the leading causes of deaths as 37,170 people were killed in 26,902 accidents across the country in the last five years.