We appreciate the government for taking a pragmatic initiative to reduce road crashes that kill a large number of people across the country annually. As part of the initiatives, four major government agencies have got united to work for ensuring road safety to save lives of so many people.
A news item headlined ‘key agencies united to ensure safe roads: 5,840 killed in road crashes in 2024’ was published in the Bangladesh Post on Sunday. It is a piece of great news for the people of the country that the government has finally taken pragmatic steps to strengthen road safety management.
This is for the first time in the country that Roads and Highways Department (RHD), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Bangladesh Police and Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have teamed up to work for reducing highway accidents and strengthening post-crash response, said Project Director Mohammad Shabbir Hasan Khan.
The project, which involves $208 million, was launched in 2003 with the aim to reduce road crashes, improve post-crash care and modernise traffic enforcement. Experts also pin hope on the project, saying it will not only save thousands of lives annually, but also reduce heavy burden on healthcare and boost economic resilience.
According to BRTA sources, a total of 5,856 road crashes took place in 2024, killing 5,840 people, up from 5,024 deaths in 2023, and in the first half of 2025, at least 2,943 people already died in accidents, which suggests an alarming rise in road fatalities.
In view of the rising incidents of the road fatalities, the government has taken the initiative being implemented under the World Bank-funded five-year Bangladesh Road Safety Project (BRSP).
As per the project, two pilot corridors have been identified: Joydevpur-Elenga stretch of N4 (70km) and Natore-Rajshahi stretch of N6 (70km). Besides, 500 km of high-risk road segments across Dhaka, Rajshahi, Rangpur, Khulna and Mymenshing have been prioritised using an International Road Assessment Programme (IRAP) survey of 5000km.
It is learnt from official sources that the RHD will implement civil works under four packages that include safe pedestrian crossings such as raised zebra crossings and speed calming zones near schools, markets and industrial hubs, roadside safety barriers and guardrails at accident-prone curves. Under the project, the BRTA will impart training to 40,000 new professional drivers while 20,000 existing drivers will receive training in partnership with the BRTC. The BRTA will also modernise service delivery by digitally integrating licensing, registration, fitness checks and fee payments.
The Bangladesh Police will pioneer IT-based traffic enforcement. Along N4 and N6 pilot corridors, an Integrated Traffic Management and Incident Detection System (ITMIDS) will be introduced. “For the first time in Bangladesh, high-tech cameras will detect speeding, lane violations and accidents in real time,” project director said.
We hope the comprehensive measures taken by the government will be able to reduce road crashes in the country if the four agencies work in a very coordinated way with a promise to prevent any loss of lives on roads.
