The
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) regularly published daily reports on
road accidents and casualties across the country from June of last year.
However, the publication is halted since August 2, 2024.
BRTA
officials stated that these reports were primarily based on information
gathered from the police. Due to recent changes in the country’s situation,
BRTA has been unable to coordinate with the police to compile the reports. They
assured that regular accident reports will resume soon, once coordination with
the police is restored.
For
several years, various non-governmental organizations, such as Jatri Kalyan
Samity, Nirapad Sarak Chai Andolon, and Road Safety Foundation, have been
consistently publishing reports on road accidents in the country. These reports
are typically based on an analysis of information from various media outlets.
However, the statistics released by these organizations often differ. According
to Jatri Kalyan Samity, 7,902 people died in road accidents nationwide in 2023,
while Road Safety Foundation reported 6,524 deaths. The Bangladesh Police
reported 4,445 road accident fatalities in the same year.
In
January 2023, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges launched an initiative
to regularly publish accurate reports on road accidents to reconcile the
discrepancies between government and private statistics. BRTA began publishing
monthly accident data collected from divisional offices on its website. The
agency published monthly accident data till May last year. From June of last
year, the agency expanded this initiative by publishing daily accident reports.
However, since August 2, the publication of these reports has been paused.
A
separate ‘menu’ for accident reports was created on the BRTA website, where the
latest daily report, dated August 2, can still be found. Notably, no data is
available for the period between July 18 and July 29. BRTA officials explained
that reports could not be published during that time due to a countrywide
curfew and internet shutdown amidst an anti-discrimination student
movement.
BRTA
Chairman Gautam Chandra Pal attributed the halt in daily reports to a lack of
coordination with the police. He told Bonik Barta, “We used to publish daily
accident data. It was done in coordination with the police department. We are
currently sending monthly reports and will resume daily reports as soon as
possible.”
The
latest BRTA monthly report for July mentioned 385 road accidents across the
country, resulting in 353 deaths and 364 injuries. Most accidents occurred in
Dhaka division, where 84 incidents led to 82 fatalities and 59 injuries.
In
contrast, the Road Safety Foundation reported that 452 road accidents in July
caused 487 deaths and 679 injuries. On the other hand, Jatri Kalyan Samity
recorded 336 accidents resulting in 372 deaths and 543 injuries.