TUHIN SHUBHRA ADHIKARY

At least 5,480 people died in 5,856 road crashes in 2024, according to the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority.

This marks a nine percent rise in fatalities and a 6.57 percent rise in crashes compared to 2023, as per the data released on its website yesterday.

BRTA collected the data through its field offices across the country.

The development comes at a time when most government initiatives to curb road crashes have remained ineffective.

On January 4, Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity presented its annual report, in which it reported 8,543 deaths in 6,359 road crashes in 2024, reflecting an 8.11 percent increase in fatalities and a 1.56 percent rise in crashes compared to the previous year.

On January 8, the Road Safety Foundation reported 7,294 fatalities last year, a 12 percent increase from 2023.

Referring to the Road Safety Foundation report, Fouzul Kabir Khan on Saturday said, “We, the interim government, take responsibility for it. We take responsibility that we could not reduce the number of road crashes and deaths.”

Data from both government and NGOs indicates that small and unauthorised vehicles, including motorcycles, three-wheelers, and battery-run easy bikes, are major contributors to road crashes.

In 2015, the previous government banned three-wheelers on 22 major highways but failed to enforce the restriction. The situation remained unchanged after the change in government in August 2024.

The previous government had taken two separate initiatives to prepare a regulation guideline for three-wheelers and motorcycles, but they were not finalised.

No progress is still visible in this regard. However, Senior Secretary Ehsanul Hoque recently said the Local Government Division is working on a guideline for battery-run easy bikes.

Old and outdated vehicles also contribute significantly to crashes.

In May 2023, the then government set 20 years for buses and 25 years for trucks as economic lifetime. but it backtracked from the decision in August, 2023.

In October last year, the interim government gave vehicle owners until May this year to remove outdated vehicles from the capital, but no visible action was taken for such vehicles in other parts of the country.

Admitting failures to curb road crashes, the road adviser

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