It’s time to accept that autorickshaws are not designed for highways

Across northern Bangladesh, and indeed throughout the country, battery-powered rickshaws and local slow-moving vans now routinely operate on highways.

These vehicles, designed exclusively for short-distance travel on village roads and local streets, are sharing space with high-speed buses, trucks, and private vehicles. The result is a deeply alarming public safety crisis that can no longer be ignored.

This is not merely a transport management issue. It is a matter of life and death.

Having travelled extensively across northern Bangladesh in recent months, I have witnessed this dangerous pattern repeatedly. Long stretches of highway that should allow safe, regulated movement are now occupied by vulnerable battery-powered rickshaws weaving through speeding traffic. These vehicles often carry schoolchildren, women, and elderly passengers, while buses and trucks approach at high speed with little room for reaction.

The moment a relatively slow-moving autorickshaw and a speeding heavy vehicle occupy the same narrow highway lane, tragedy becomes only a matter of seconds.

The evidence is both alarming and impossible to dismiss. Road safety data from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority, alongside analyses conducted by the Accident Research Institute, show that Bangladesh continues to witness thousands of road fatalities and tens of thousands of serious injuries each year. Road crashes remain one of the leading causes of premature death in the country, particularly among economically active citizens and vulnerable road users.

The Road Safety Foundation has repeatedly shown that a significant proportion of these casualties occur on highways, where unsafe road-sharing between high-speed motorised vehicles and slow-moving local transport creates highly dangerous conditions. Its findings consistently highlight that passengers of non-motorised and low-speed vehicles—including battery-run rickshaws, local vans, and informal transport carriers—face disproportionately higher risks because they lack physical protection and are directly exposed to impact during collisions.

In many cases, even minor contact with a speeding bus, truck, or private car can result in catastrophic consequences.

The structural incompatibility between battery-run rickshaws and highway traffic is a major safety concern in Bangladesh. Highways are designed for fast, continuous motorised movement that depends on lane discipline, strong braking systems, and stable vehicle performance. 

In contrast, battery-run rickshaws are meant for short-distance travel on village roads and local streets with low speeds and limited traffic complexity. They have lightweight frames, narrow wheelbases, weak suspension, and braking systems that are often inadequate for high-speed conditions. Their high centre of gravity increases instability during sudden turns, raising the risk of overturning. Many are also informally assembled without proper engineering standards, safety features, or regulatory checks, making them highly vulnerable in highway environments.

The human consequences of this unsafe transport mix are increasingly visible across the country. Reports of collisions involving battery-run rickshaws and larger highway vehicles have become disturbingly common, particularly on highways passing through northern districts, where local transport networks often merge directly into national road corridors. These incidents frequently result in severe trauma, spinal injuries, permanent disability, and loss of life.

Beyond the statistics lies an equally serious psychological impact: a growing climate of fear among daily commuters. Parents worry when their children travel to school using local battery-run transport; workers face anxiety during routine commutes; and families live with the uncertainty that an ordinary journey could turn fatal within seconds. This constant exposure to preventable risk reflects a broader failure of transport governance. What we are witnessing is not a series of isolated accidents but the predictable outcome of regulatory neglect, inadequate infrastructure planning, and the normalisation of unsafe road practices.

What makes this crisis more complex is its economic dimension.

The way forward is both urgent and achievable. First, traffic laws must be enforced consistently to prevent battery-run rickshaws and other slow-moving local vehicles from operating on national highways. Enforcement cannot consist of occasional symbolic drives; it must be systematic and sustained.

For thousands of families, battery-run rickshaws represent livelihoods and survival. In rural and semi-urban Bangladesh, these vehicles provide affordable employment and low-cost mobility where formal public transport remains insufficient. For many drivers, entering highways is not a deliberate act of recklessness but a response to economic necessity and inadequate transport planning.

Yet economic hardship cannot justify systemic exposure to lethal risk.

The root causes are layered: weak traffic enforcement, inadequate rural transport planning, a lack of dedicated feeder roads, and regulatory gaps that allow unfit vehicles to enter high-speed corridors. Too often, highways become unregulated shared spaces where vulnerable vehicles compete directly with trucks and buses. This is a structural failure of governance and infrastructure management.

The cost of inaction is devastating.

Every collision is more than a statistic. It is a shattered family, a child who does not return from school, a parent lost on the way home, or a breadwinner permanently disabled. When these tragedies become normalised, society begins to accept preventable loss as routine. That is a dangerous moral failure.

The way forward is both urgent and achievable.

First, traffic laws must be enforced consistently to prevent battery-run rickshaws and other slow-moving local vehicles from operating on national highways. Enforcement cannot consist of occasional symbolic drives; it must be systematic and sustained.

Second, local governments and road authorities must invest in designated feeder roads and safe alternative routes where these vehicles can operate legally and securely.

Third, regulatory frameworks must be strengthened to monitor vehicle standards, registration, route permissions, and operational compliance.

Fourth, nationwide awareness campaigns are essential. Drivers and passengers must understand the risks associated with highway use, while communities should be educated about safer transport choices.

Finally, this issue demands coordinated action among the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges, local administrations, law enforcement agencies, and transport planners. Piecemeal responses will not solve a systemic problem.

A road is not simply asphalt and concrete; it is a public trust. When that trust is broken through negligence, poor planning, or weak regulation, it is always the most vulnerable who pay the highest price. The question before us is no longer whether the autorickshaw is a problem. The real question is: how many more lives must be lost before we decide that enough is enough?

Sketch: TBS

Dr Shahriar Hossain is an environmental scientist, journalist, and Social Justice advocate, involved in the UNFCC, BRS Conventions, and Global Framework on Chemicals and Plastic Treaty negotiations. Contact: shahriar25@gmail.com

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of The Business Standard.