Road accidents in Bangladesh remain alarmingly high, 503 killed in December 2025
According to RSF analysis, 194 accidents occurred on national highways, 217 on regional roads, 53 on rural roads, 76 on urban roads, and seven in other areas.
Road traffic accidents across Bangladesh continued to claim a heavy toll in December 2025, with 503 people killed and 1,186 injured in 547 reported accidents nationwide, according to a report published yesterday by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).
The foundation's analysis, compiled from nine national dailies, seven online news portals, and various television outlets, shows that motorcycle accidents were particularly deadly. Of the total, 238 incidents (43.5%) involved motorcycles, resulting in 204 fatalities.
Among those killed, 131 (26%) were pedestrians and 63 (12.5%) were drivers or helpers.
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Accident timing and regional breakdown
The timing of accidents reveals hazards throughout the day:
- Early morning: 6.6
- Morning: 29.6%
- Afternoon: 30%
- Evening: 15%
- Night: 18.8%
Regionally, the Chattogram Division recorded the highest number of fatalities (107), while Barishal had the fewest (27 deaths from 29 incidents). Other divisions saw:
- Dhaka: 20.47%
- Rajshahi: 17.55%
- Khulna: 9.68%
- Sylhet: 5.66%
- Rangpur: 13.52%
- Mymensingh: 5.48%
The study identifies defective vehicles, defective road infrastructure, reckless driving, physical and mental illness of drivers, lack of fixed salary and working hours for drivers and helpers, slow-moving vehicles on highways, violation of traffic laws, weak traffic management and extortion in the transport sector as the major causes of accidents.
The foundation put forward a set of recommendations, including training and development of skilled drivers, establishing fixed salaries and working hours for drivers, strengthening the capacity of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), strict enforcement of traffic laws, and implementing the Road Transport Act-2018.
