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Published : 13 May 2026, 05:05 PM
A total of 510 people have died in 527 road accidents across Bangladesh during April, with another 1,268 people getting injured.
The data was published on Wednesday in an observation report published by the Accident Monitoring Cell of Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity. According to the report, a total of 586 accidents involving roads, railways, and waterways claimed 563 lives and injured 1,279 people during the month.
In a press statement, the organisation’s Secretary General Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury presented the report and demanded a complete overhaul of the transport sector’s management system.
“If the transport sector is run under the supervision of local and foreign transport experts instead of bureaucrats, it will be possible to establish discipline in the sector, reduce public suffering in commuting, and prevent thousands of deaths that take place annually.”
Mozammel also urged the new government to move away from the old transport management system.
According to the organisation’s data, the highest number of accidents in April occurred in the Chattogram Division, where 135 accidents killed 137 people and injured 263 others. In contrast, Mymensingh Division recorded the fewest accidents, with 17 incidents causing 18 deaths.
During April, 139 motorcycle accidents killed 142 people and injured 124 others, accounting for 27.84 percent of all road deaths.
The dead in road accidents include 99 drivers of various vehicles, 82 pedestrians, 56 students, 52 women, 47 children, and 25 transport workers.
Doctors, teachers, journalists, lawyers, political activists, and members of law enforcing agencies were also among the victims.
The report also identified 805 vehicles involved in accidents. Of them, 26.45 percent were trucks, pickups, covered vans, and lorries; 21.86 percent were motorcycles, 15.27 percent were battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes, 14.28 percent were buses, and 6.95 percent were CNG-run auto-rickshaws.
An analysis on types of accidents showed that 41.17 percent were head-on collisions, 28.08 percent had involved vehicles hitting or running over pedestrians, and 23.71 percent occurred when vehicles veered out of control and fell into ditches.
Of the total number of accidents, 38.51 percent occurred on national highways, 31.49 percent on regional highways, 22.96 percent on feeder roads, 5.69 percent in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area, 0.75 percent in the Chattogram Metropolitan Area, and 0.56 percent at railway crossings, the report said.
The organisation has identified several reasons behind the road accidents. These include unrestricted movement of motorcycles, battery-powered rickshaws, and auto-rickshaws on highways, lack of road signs and dividers, construction flaws on highways, unfit vehicles, unskilled drivers, reckless speeding, extortion on roads and excessive working hours for drivers.
The Jatri Kalyan Samity has drawn various recommendations to prevent road accidents in the country. The notable ones are—
> Expanding the use of technology on roads and introducing smart fare collection systems
> Halting the import and registration of motorcycles and battery-powered rickshaws
> Training skilled drivers and digitising vehicle fitness certification
> Establishing good governance in the transport sector and ending monopoly control by owners’ associations
> Ensuring drivers’ salaries and working hours, and stopping road extortion
> Strengthening the capacity of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA)
> Launching a “Road Accident Research Unit” under the Ministry of Road Transport
The report was prepared by reviewing news reports published in the media. However, the organisation noted that the actual death toll could be even higher.
