- Dhaka-Ctg highway recorded 228 crashes
- 658 crashes on 10 nat’l highways in 18 months.
- Head-on collisions caused 695 deaths
- Motorcycles recorded highest number of fatalities
The Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar national highway (N1) recorded 228 road accidents, the highest number among major highways in Bangladesh, and caused 928 casualties in 18 months till June this year, according to a study.
The study, supported and funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), recorded 658 crashes on 10 national highways during the period, of which more than half were recorded on the Roads and Highways Department network.
It identified national highways N1, N8, N2 and N5 as the most accident-prone, requiring urgent safety interventions. The N8 (Dhaka-Barishal-Kuakata) recorded 98 crashes, N2 (Dhaka-Sylhet-Tamabil) 79, and N5 (Dhaka-Aricha-Banglabandha) 65.
The RHD and the ADB jointly organised a seminar yesterday at a Dhaka hotel to share the study findings.
Head-on collisions were found to be the deadliest type of crash, causing 2,129 casualties (44%), including 695 deaths.
Large buses were associated with the highest number of casualties, while motorcycles recorded the highest number of fatalities. The analysis also recorded 247 pedestrian deaths, mainly in semi-urban and rural areas.
Addressing the event, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam called for a specialised police division comprising officials with long-term training and experience for road safety and highway management.
He said improving driver training, ensuring vehicle fitness, controlling speed, increasing helmet use among motorcyclists and raising public awareness were necessary to reduce road crashes.
The government is committed to enacting a comprehensive road safety law by December 2027 and achieving road safety targets for 2030, he said.
Another ADB-supported study found that 91.47 percent of RHD’s 22,719-km road network was classified as good or fair in 2025-26, compared with 73.7 percent in 2018-19 and 89.7 percent in 2022-23.
The study said routine maintenance remained a challenge as field offices had to manage large road networks. Each RHD sub-division handles 180.9km of roads on average, with the highest coverage reaching 562.5km.
It recommended preventive maintenance and performance-based maintenance contracts to ensure faster identification and repair of road defects.