Road Safety in Bangladesh
Abstract
Transportation is an unavoidable part of the life of human being that facilitates mobilization of products
and people. Hence, safety in road requires a great deal of attention to keep the transportation system
free from accidents and unexpected losses of valuable lives and goods.
Data Source & Limitation
All data used for the purpose of this report are collected from secondary sources. The scenario of recent
five years has been taken into account for drawing conclusion. The major limitation of this report is, the
data used for analysis and conclusion are not gathered from any primary sources, that indicates a
complete reliance on the secondary sources, e.g. daily newspapers.
Elaborative Analysis
Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures used to
prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Around
12.5% of annual development budget is spent on transport sector.
Typical road users include pedestrians , cyclists , motorists , vehicle
passengers, horse riders, and passengers of on-road public
transport . 1 Road accidents are generally caused by three
defaults , namely human error, technical error and natural error.
Among these, the human error is the major reason behind every
accidents. During the last five years, around 35,000 people died in roads of Bangladesh. 2 That means, on
average 19 people die every day in roads of Bangladesh. As per the “Accident Research Institute (ARI)”,
43% of road crashes occur on national highways. 3
The major causes of reduction in safety in roads include lack of expertise and discipline of drivers, less
stringent traffic control system, lower application of legislative actions, unauthorized passenger pick &
drop, competition and carelessness. To get over this situation, the following actions can be implemented
under proper planning and monitoring.
- Awareness: This is the way, which can impose the major impact to ensure road safety. Along
with the government institutions, the privatized organization (e.g. Nirapad Sharak Anodolon) can
come over to fight the insecurities of lives in roads.
- Legislative: For severe irregularities, legislative actions should be implemented. For this
purpose, the application of the “Road Transportation Act 2018” should be initiated.
- Infrastructural: To avoid technical and natural road crushes, the maintenance of vehicles should
be mandated. Besides, focus on well-structured roads and highway can be another game changer
in the fight for safe roads.
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goal - 11 : “Sustainable Cities and Communities”, a safe, resilient
and sustainable human living should be ensured by ensuring safe, time friendly and affordable
transportation system. 4
As per international road safety parameter, the Safe System Approach includes the following components
of a secured transportation system. 5
Safe Speed - Organized speed limits as per location, people and traffic density of road.
Safe Roads - Destruction free roads, Well-constructed structure, and Sound traffic control unit.
Safe Vehicles - Seat Belts, Air Bags etc.
Safe People - Physically and mentally fit drivers, well instructed people moving around road.
Post-crash Care - Adequate and prompt measures and separate units for rescue.
Conclusion
During 2020, around 7,500 people died in COVID 19, whereas, despite 2-month lockdown, around 6,600
people died in road accident. Which means, even after getting rid of the virus, people will still continue to
die in roads if the situation is not thought carefully.
Hence, it is very prominent from the above discussion that, the requirement of road safety measures has
crossed the line of tolerable limit. It should be implemented before going beyond control.
1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Road_traffic_safety
2 https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/road-accident-in-bangladeh-21-died-every-day-1852867
3 https://ari.buet.ac.bd/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Final-Draft-Presentation-for-World-Bank-Seminar.pdf
4 https://unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/road_Safety/Documents/SDG_brochure_-_Special_Envoy_for_Road_Safety.pdf
5 http://www.towardszerofoundation.org/thesafesystem
Year-wise Road Crushes and Deaths
Year Accidents Deaths
2020 4891 6686
2019 5516 7855
2018 5514 7221
2017 4979 7397
2016 4312 6055