Bangladesh 106th among 183 countries for having most road accidents: Report

A statistic by the world life expectancy based on information from 183 countries puts Bangladesh on 106th position for having the most road accident related deaths.

Zimbabwe tops the list for having the most unsafe roads with a fatality rate of 61.90% while the safest roads are in Sweden. Sweden reported only 2.31% of road accident related deaths.

In the first eight months of 2021, a total of 3,502 people were killed and 3,479 sustained injuries in 3,701 road accidents.

The figures came out in a report by the Bangladesh Police.

Last year, 4,198 accidents claimed 3,918 lives. In 2019, at least 4,138 lost their lives in 4,147 accidents, and 2,635 people were killed and 1,920 others were injured in 2,629 road crashes in 2018, according to police reports.

However, road safety organisations such as Jatri Kalyan Samity claim the numbers to be higher.

In their 2020 annual road accident monitoring report, they said in a total of 4,891 traffic accidents in Bangladesh in 2020, 6,686 persons died and 8,600 were wounded.

This implies that 18 lost their lives in traffic accidents per day on average across the country.

Although the number of road accidents on regional highways grew by 6.78% in 2020 compared to 2019, the accidents reduced by 3.45% on national highways, 0.16% reduction at rail crossings, and 2.19% fewer accidents on feeder roads, according to the annual report.

International agencies paint a worse picture of the road safety situation in Bangladesh.

With only 0.5% of the world's vehicles, Bangladesh had around 25,000 lives lost on roads in 2019, according to a report by the World Bank (WB).

The information was revealed in a 2019 World Bank report, titled "Guide for Road Safety Opportunities and Challenges: Low- and Middle-Income Countries Country Profiles".

Based on the information from 2016, the country accounted for 24,954 deaths that resulted from road accidents.

This goes to say that around 15 deaths occur in every 1 lakh population in the country due to road crashes and related accidents.

Besides, deaths from road accidents are the seventh top cause of death for Bangladeshis.

The WB report also added that 15-64-year-olds make up 67% of road crash fatalities and injuries.

Moreover, the ratio of male to female fatalities is 5:1 and the 15-49-year age group is the most vulnerable to fatalities.

The report further points out that in 2016, the government reported only 2,376 fatalities caused by road accidents whereas WHO estimated the deaths to be at 24,954.

The report puts the road crash and serious injury cost estimate at 5.3% of Bangladesh's GDP for 2016.

In 2016, there were approximately 3,74,310 serious injuries in Bangladesh, the WB reported. These injuries and the fatalities came at a cost of $11,630 million.

According to the World Bank, the road crash fatality rate is three times higher in low-income countries compared to high-income countries.

The WB report was based on all pillars of road safety (management, roads, speed, vehicles, road users, and post-crash care), along with information on the current status for each country and region along with extensive information on key risk factors, issues and opportunities.

The lowest rate of road accident related deaths in the region in 2016 was in the Maldives, with four yearly deaths and the worst rate was in Pakistan with 27,582 deaths, as per the WB report.