Accidents have become recurred in Bangladesh. It is hard to believe that the country has lost 13,409 citizens including students, youth, men, women, and the elderly in air, road, rail, and waterway accidents over the last 17 months.
This continuous loss of life has been going on for 54 years, yet no government has adopted any effective or visionary plan to overcome it. As a result, road accidents continue to increase. After the fall of the government triggered by the student movement against the quota system, the interim government was formed. Since then, from August 2024 to December 2025, extreme chaos and disorder have prevailed on the roads. During this period, a total of 57,796 small and large road accidents occurred nationwide due to widespread violations of traffic laws. As a result, 58,491 people were seriously injured, losing limbs or becoming permanently disabled. Moreover, 12,694 people died either on the way to hospitals or while undergoing treatment. These figures were provided by Save the Road, an organization known as a true friend of students and youth.
In its report, the voluntary, research-based, and awareness-raising organization stated that during the current government's 17 months, more than 200,000 motorcycles and over 500,000 illegal battery-powered rickshaws have come onto the roads. The main objective of these vehicles is to reach destinations quickly and maximize income. In doing so, they frequently violate traffic laws, causing a sharp rise in accidents as well as injuries and deaths. In most cases, victims are forced to live the rest of their lives with permanent disabilities and unbearable suffering.
Dhaka is the most vulnerable city in this regard, followed by Chattogram, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barishal, Mymensingh, and even Rangpur is no longer safe. Across the country, including Dhaka-the so-called city of ride-sharing-13,823 motorcycle accidents have injured 13,832 people and killed 2,638. Additionally, in accidents involving controversial vehicles such as battery-powered auto-rickshaws, Nosimon, Korimon, and pickups, 21,631 accidents injured 23,603 people and killed 3,648.
Due to speeding, driving continuously for 12 to 20 hours without rest, and ignoring traffic laws, 12,746 bus accidents injured 11,697 people and killed 3,784. Heavy vehicles such as trucks and lorries caused 8,968 accidents due to speeding and overloading, injuring 9,359 and killing 2,624 people-most of them pedestrians or local residents.
This is the reality of today's unsafe civic life. If even minimal initiatives had been taken to ensure safety on roads, railways, waterways, and air routes, we would not be witnessing endless processions of the injured and the dead.
The organization further noted that from August 2024 to December 2025, a culture of lawlessness has developed on the roads, continuously increasing accidents, injuries, and deaths. Therefore, Save the Road expects special attention from the advisors of the interim government and concerned authorities to increase social awareness, research, and voluntary activities with government support.
The Save the Road organization called for the establishment of police booths or watchtowers every three kilometers and urged the Highway Police and district and upazila administrations to be proactive. Due to negligence in these matters, there have been 411 robberies on roads in the last 17 months, injuring 257 people and killing 2. Furthermore, there were 825 incidents of sexual harassment and 15 cases of rape on road, rail, and waterways. On waterways, robberies have increased due to negligence by the Coast Guard and River Police, resulting in 216 incidents that injured 188 people and killed 1.
The Save the Road reports that during this period, 2,052 waterway accidents injured 1,754 people, killed 187, and left 46 missing. Railways witnessed 1,106 accidents, injuring 1,076 and killing 492. There was one air accident-the most horrific in history-on July 21, 2025, when a Bangladesh Air Force training aircraft crashed into Milestone School and College in Uttara, Dhaka, killing 36 and injuring 172. Earlier, on May 9, 32-year-old Squadron Leader Asim Jawad died in a fighter aircraft crash. Apart from these, 17 people were harassed and mistreated by airport staff.
So, there is no alternative to coordination among owners, workers, administrators, and the general public to reduce accidents on roads, railways, waterways, and air routes. For the last 18 years, Save the Road has been working with seven demands, which, if implemented, could reduce accidents by 90 percent.
These demands are: Declare July 11 as "Accident-Free Road Day" in memory of the students killed in the Mirersarai tragedy, Establish police booths every three kilometers, bring all roads under CCTV coverage, widen roads, and free sidewalks for pedestrians, take measures to prevent rape and harassment on roads, and prohibit employing drivers or helpers without at least an eighth-grade education and a national ID card, Provide at least TK 1 million compensation for the families of the deceased and ensure proper medical treatment and Tk 300,000 for the injured, Implement the "Transport Workers Rule" and establish a "Transport Police Battalion, Expedite investigations and punishment for road accidents, ensure sincerity and responsibility among highway police and river police until the battalion is formed, and ensure that all drivers possess valid licenses and Prevent.
The writer is a contributor
