Bangladesh is 106th among 183 countries for recording the most road accident related deaths. The number of road accidents in the country has been continuously rising over the past several years despite the government's commitment to reduce it by 20 to 25 per cent by 2024 and 50 per cent by 2030.
At least 5,088 people were killed in 5,472 road crashes in 2021, which is 30 per cent higher than in the previous year, according to Bangladesh police data.
Statistics from the Passenger Welfare Association of Bangladesh (PWAB) paint an even bleaker picture, as it recorded 7,809 deaths and 9,039 injuries in 5,629 road accidents last year.
Zimbabwe tops the list for having the most unsafe roads with a fatality rate of 61.90 per cent while the safest roads are in Sweden. Sweden reported has only 2.31 per cent road accident related deaths.
In their 2020 annual road accident monitoring report of Bangladesh Police, it is said that a total of 4,891 traffic accidents took place in the country in 2020, in which 6,686 persons died and 8,600 were wounded.
This implies that 18 lost their lives in traffic accidents per day on average across the country.
Although the number of
road accidents on regional highways grew by 6.78 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019, the accidents reduced by 3.45 per cent on national highways, 0.16 per cent reduction at rail crossings, and 2.19 per cent fewer accidents on feeder roads, according to the annual report.
The WB report also added that 15-64-year-olds make up 67 per cent of road crash fatalities and injuries. Moreover, the ratio of male to female fatalities is 5:1 and the 15-49-year age group is the most vulnerable to fatalities.
The report further points out that in 2016, the government reported only 2,376 fatalities caused by road accidents whereas WHO estimated the deaths to be at 24,954.
The report puts the road crash and serious injury cost estimate at 5.3 per cent of Bangladesh's GDP for 2016.
The government formed a high-level task force to bring the chaos on roads under control in 2019, but it is yet to have any visible impact. The number of road accidents in the country even rose during the height of the nationwide Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
As indicated by the World Bank, the street accident casualty rate is multiple times higher in low-pay nations contrasted with top-level salary nations.
The WB report depended on all mainstays of street wellbeing (the executives, streets, speed, vehicles, street clients, and post-crash care), alongside data on the current status of Road accident in Bangladesh for every nation and area alongside broad data on key gamble variables, issues, and potentially open doors.
The lowest rate of road accident related deaths in the region in 2016 was in the Maldives, with four yearly deaths and the worst rate was in Pakistan with 27,582 deaths, as per the WB report.
