Road safety in Bangladesh

Abstract

Being a riverine country, the road transportation system is vitally important to the economic and social welfare of Bangladesh. Therefore, it must be so maintained and continually improved with due consideration for safety, minimizing accident hazards and risks. However, terrible losses of lives and injuries with consequent property damages resulting from road traffic accidents have now emerged as serious issues in Bangladesh affecting the community personally, socially and economically. The road safety situation is very severe by international standard. An overview of the prevailing accident problem characteristics and some road safety priorities that should be addressed with due urgency are briefly discussed in the paper. Some recent advances in promoting road safety activities including holding of international conference, national workshops and the observance of the UN first global road safety week are also discussed. The way forward to activate and strengthen efforts towards greater safety is highlighted as well.