Reckless drivers and unfit vehicles: Is it too much to ask for road safety?
In Bangladesh, approximately 14 people die every day in road accidents—deaths that are preventable. Many of the cases involve reckless bus driving, which has become normalised in the country
Imagine you are going to attend your sister-in-law's wedding with your wife and child on a motorbike. Your wife and seven-year-old son are on the bike. While paying the money at the Mawa toll plaza, a speeding bus comes from behind and crashes into your bike. In an instant, your happy family is no more.
Such an incident happened on Friday, 27 December to a man named Sumon, when a speeding bus killed his wife and son. Six people of two families, three of whom were children, were killed when a bus rammed into three other vehicles at the toll plaza of Dhaka-Mawa Expressway in South Keraniganj.
In Bangladesh, approximately 14 people die every day in road accidents—deaths that are preventable. Many of the cases involve reckless bus driving, which has become normalised in the country. Despite repeated heartbreaking incidents where speeding or careless buses claimed people's lives and destroyed their dreams, no significant improvement has been observed. This begs the question: why?
According to the latest report from the Bangladesh Jatri Kalyan Samity, in October alone, 475 people were killed and 815 injured in 452 crashes across the country.
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From 2014 to September 2024, there were 60,980 road accidents in the country, resulting in 105,338 deaths and 149,847 injuries. Despite a historic student-led movement in 2018 demanding safer roads, little has changed. The promises made by the authorities remain unfulfilled, and the death toll continues to rise.
Over 80% of the 7,713 road crash victims last year were aged between 18 and 65 years, according to a report published by the Road Safety Foundation.
Motorbikes were involved in 2,973 road crashes, which left 3,091 people dead last year. The figures were 43.53% and 40.07% of the total crashes and deaths that year, the foundation said. And in the majority of the cases, the riders are the ones who die, just like Sumon's wife and child.
"No driver can drive more than five hours in his first shift and three hours in his second. Yet, they are made to drive 10 to 13 hours everyday." Saidur Rahman, executive director of Road Safety Foundation
The vested interests of vehicle owners, transport associations, and regulatory bodies have created a tangled web of corruption and mismanagement that perpetuates this cycle of death. A failure of governance and systemic neglect allows dangerous practices to persist.
The Road Safety Foundation found 10 major reasons behind road accidents, including faulty vehicles, speeding, unskilled, and unfit drivers, unfixed working hours for professional drivers, operation of slow-moving vehicles on highways, reckless bike driving, poor traffic management, and extortion in the transport sector.
Government oversight: A failing system
The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is responsible for regulating and monitoring the transport sector. However, its inefficiency is evident from the data: over 50% of buses operating in Dhaka are unfit, and many drivers lack proper licenses. Despite repeated initiatives, such as mobile court drives and fitness checks, enforcement remains sporadic and insufficient.
Corruption exacerbates this issue. Vehicle fitness certificates and driving licenses are often obtained through bribery, bypassing essential safety requirements. A nexus between transport leaders, law enforcement, and political figures ensures that unqualified drivers and unsafe vehicles dominate the roads.
BRTA officials often cite a lack of manpower as an excuse, but the underlying issue is a lack of accountability and political will. Moreover, oversight is limited to occasional crackdowns, which fail to address the systemic flaws that allow these problems to persist. Without consistent monitoring and transparent practices, the sector remains in disarray.
However, this is rather odd because since the Road Safety Movement in 2018, the government published one law and one guideline and formed one gazetted road safety task force, which put forward 111 recommendations to improve road safety.
Aside from the laws and regulations, numerous steps have been taken to prevent road accidents. Yet, none has been able to be successful. Even the bus driver who caused the accident on Friday on the toll plaza confessed to the police that his driving license expired 2 years ago. Moreover, his bus did not have fitness.
Professor Dr Md Shamsul Hoque, a transportation engineering expert from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet) and the former Director of Accident Research Institute (ARI) told TBS that laws, guidelines or recommendations will not be adequate to solve the problem alone.
"Such laws, guidelines or recommendations have been here before, and they have fallen short of achieving the goal. These are passive measures and active measures have not been taken. Neither the planning nor the policy framework have been carried out. Then how do you expect the problem to be solved?" said Dr Shamsul Hoque.
Saidur Rahman, executive director of Road Safety Foundation, is also of the same opinion.
"The Road Transport Act 2018 has not been implemented on the ground yet. In a road accident like this, the driver's fault comes at number three. The first reason is management issues, that allowed such reckless drivers to be allowed to drive in the first place. The second reason is the negligence of highway police and traffic police that did not stop the bus when it was being reckless."
"In Bangladesh, it's not a road accident, it is structural killing. The road condition, vehicle fitness, drivers' skills, corruption- all of these are recipes for disaster. We need more accountability from the authorities."
Insufficient training: A systemic neglect
Driver training is woefully inadequate in Bangladesh. Most drivers begin their careers as helpers, learning informally from senior drivers without formal education or licensing. The government offers only two-day training for professional drivers, far below the global standard for competency. Moreover, the lack of institutional support means that even experienced drivers often do not undergo refresher courses or advanced training programs.
Efforts to establish training facilities, such as a 2019 initiative to train drivers on medium and heavy vehicles, have largely stalled.
Transport owners have failed to build promised training centres, and government-backed projects frequently face delays. The absence of proper training also means that drivers lack critical knowledge about traffic laws, vehicle maintenance, and defensive driving techniques. This not only endangers passengers but also compromises pedestrian safety.
Just to illustrate how neglected the licensing system is in the country, let us recall the time when the Shipping Minister Shajahan Khan said in the meeting room of the Shipping Ministry on 18 August 2011, "Uneducated drivers also need to be given licenses. Because they know signals, know cows and goats, and know people. So they can be given licenses."
Long working hours and fatigue
Drivers are often subjected to gruelling schedules, with long-haul bus drivers working up to 30 hours in 48-hour periods. Such practices lead to fatigue, which impairs reaction times and decision-making abilities, contributing significantly to accidents. Although laws stipulate a maximum of five consecutive driving hours and eight hours daily, these regulations are rarely enforced.
Transport owners push drivers to maximise trips, valuing profits over safety. Many drivers are forced to work without adequate rest facilities, particularly on inter-district routes. Rest stops proposed under government initiatives remain incomplete, leaving drivers to sleep in their vehicles or continue driving in a sleep-deprived state.
Saidur Rahman, executive director of Road Safety Foundation, said, "No driver can drive more than five hours in his first shift and three hours in his second. Yet, they are made to drive 10 to 13 hours everyday."
Trip-based income encourages recklessness
The "trip system," where drivers' earnings depend on the number of trips completed, fosters reckless driving. To maximise income, drivers often overspeed, ignore traffic laws, and engage in dangerous manoeuvres, such as competing with other buses on the same route. Passengers' lives are frequently put at risk in this high-stakes race.
This system creates a culture of competition rather than safety. Buses often race to collect passengers, abruptly stopping and starting without warning.
Additionally, the lack of a fixed salary means drivers have no financial security, compelling them to take more trips than they can handle safely. Transport owners benefit from this arrangement, as it shifts the financial burden onto drivers while insulating owners from direct accountability.
Saidur Rahman said, "To reduce road accidents, bus drivers have to be given proper training, fixed working hours, and fixed salaries. Otherwise, the situation will not improve."
Unfit vehicles and road conditions
A staggering number of vehicles on Bangladeshi roads operate without fitness certifications. BRTA estimates over 500,000 unfit vehicles nationwide, with many still actively plying the streets. These vehicles often have faulty brakes, worn tires, and other mechanical issues that make accidents inevitable.
Poor road conditions compound these problems. Potholes, ruts, and poorly maintained highways increase the likelihood of accidents, especially for buses travelling at high speeds. The absence of separate lanes for slow-moving vehicles exacerbates traffic chaos, forcing buses to swerve dangerously to avoid collisions.
It has been pointed out that infrastructure development in Bangladesh is often focused on expansion rather than maintenance. Addressing these deficiencies requires not only stricter inspections for vehicle fitness but also significant investment in road repairs and proper traffic management systems.
"Our policy framework needs to be designed so that qualified experts with experience in both mass transit and transportation engineering are in charge of it. We need a scientific approach to the problem and solve it methodically," said Dr Hoque.
Corruption within the system means that even when accidents occur, offenders often escape meaningful consequences. Investigations frequently reveal systemic negligence, such as expired fitness certificates and unlicensed drivers, yet these findings rarely lead to lasting reform.
To break this cycle, governments must commit to prioritising public safety over the interests of powerful transport syndicates. Transparency in regulatory processes and a zero-tolerance policy for corruption are essential to restoring trust in the system.
