16,027 Killed in Motorcycle Crashes in Six and a Half Years, Regional Roads Deadliest

Motorcycle crashes have taken a frightening turn in Bangladesh. According to the Road Safety Foundation, a private organisation working on road accidents, 16,402 motorcycle accidents occurred in the country in the six and a half years from 2020 to September 2026. Those crashes killed 16,027 people and injured 14,547. Excessive speed, loss of control and collisions with heavy vehicles are the main causes of the deaths.

On September 23, two friends, Suman and Rabiul, went out for a motorcycle ride in the Saidnagar area of Bhatara in the capital when a truck hit them and threw them off the bike. Taken to hospital with serious injuries, Suman was declared dead by doctors. He had been riding the motorcycle. His friend Rabiul, 22, was injured. Suman worked as a grill worker. The same day, another man, Imam Hossain, was killed by a bus while riding pillion on a motorcycle.

Earlier, on September 9, Saudi expatriate Hridoy, 27, was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway at Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj. The accident happened in the morning on the slope of the Kuchiamora bridge, and another young man, Sajjad, 24, was seriously injured. Hridoy was from Rasulpur-Abdullahpur village in South Keraniganj, Dhaka. He had come home on leave from Saudi Arabia four months earlier and was preparing to return to work within days. The father of a daughter, Hridoy never made that return journey. The injured Sajjad is from Uttar Ghoramara in Sirajdikhan.

Young people are losing their lives in motorcycle crashes on roads and highways in the capital and across the country in just this way. The crashes are caused by speeding, loss of control and hits from heavy vehicles. The rush to carry passengers quickly to their destinations is also raising the risk, the report notes.

According to the Road Safety Foundation report, the largest share of motorcycle accidents in the six and a half years, 6,314 or 39.30 percent, were caused by hits from heavy vehicles. Loss of control accounted for 5,497 accidents, or 34.21 percent. Head-on collisions caused 3,548 accidents, or 22.8 percent, while other causes accounted for 706 accidents, or 4.39 percent.

By vehicle responsible, goods vehicles top the list, blamed for 6,481 accidents or 40.34 percent. Motorcycle riders themselves were solely responsible for 5,831 accidents, 36.29 percent of the total. Buses caused 2,164 accidents or 13.47 percent, three-wheelers 732 or 4.55 percent, private cars, microbuses, ambulances and jeeps 438 or 2.72 percent, pedestrians 296 or 1.84 percent, and bicycles and rickshaws 123 or 0.76 percent.

By road type, the most accidents occurred on regional roads, 6,689 or 41.63 percent. National highways saw 4,773 or 29.71 percent, city roads 2,646 or 16.47 percent, and rural roads 1,957 or 12.18 percent of motorcycle accidents. In other words, the risk is highest outside the cities, on regional roads.

Deputy Commissioner Rafiqul Islam of the Tejgaon traffic division said the motorcycle accident situation is deeply alarming. Many young riders do not want to follow discipline on the road. Many have no helmet or driving licence, and many take to the road without vehicle papers. When police try to stop a motorcycle, many riders try to slip away through gaps. At excessive speed they eventually lose control, and that is when accidents happen.

He said the number of bikes in Dhaka has multiplied compared with any earlier time because motorcycles now carry passengers commercially. Riders also tend to rush passengers to their destinations quickly, which is another cause of accidents. On empty highways, the tendency to keep raising speed creates major risk. Referring to Dhaka's 300 Feet Purbachal road, he said the road is wide and relatively free of congestion, so riders try to go faster, increasing the risk there. By contrast, accidents are comparatively rare on cantonment roads because people follow the rules there. Following the rules is essential for any vehicle on the road, he said, and only then can accidents and deaths be reduced.

The report says motorcycles make up 71 percent of all registered motor vehicles in the country, and a large share of them are ridden by teenagers and young people. As many as 58 percent of those affected by motorcycle accidents are aged between 13 and 35. Motorcycles are about 30 times riskier than four-wheeled vehicles. The report also notes that the language and presentation of advertising by motorcycle manufacturers and sellers encourage riding at excessive speed.

The report identifies failure to use quality helmets as one of the main causes of death. Research shows that using a quality helmet can reduce the risk of death in a crash by up to about 48 percent. The lack of good, accessible public transport and severe congestion are encouraging more people to use motorcycles, and accidents are rising as a result.

Passenger Welfare Association secretary general Md Mozammel Haque Chowdhury said nearly eight million motorcycles are running relative to the country's size, and the number is growing every day. The government has no statistics on how many motorcycles the country's roads and highways can actually carry. Other cities in the world have rapid transit or mass transit systems as public transport. In Bangladesh that system has only just begun, and given the population density there should be at least ten more such systems. He said a bus with 40 seats often carries 80 passengers, so travellers do not feel comfortable on buses and many turn to motorcycles instead. When huge numbers of people each take separate motorcycles onto the road, the situation becomes even more complicated.

Road Safety Foundation director Saidur Rahman said awareness is the most important thing when riding a motorcycle or driving any vehicle. If people drive recklessly at speed without following the rules on roads and highways, accidents will happen. Ride-sharing is also among the causes of motorcycle accidents, he said. Riding recklessly at high speed just to get a passenger to a destination quickly is in no way acceptable.

The Road Safety Foundation has made eight recommendations to reduce accidents, including the use of safety and surveillance technology on motorcycles, making quality helmets mandatory, strict enforcement of traffic laws, awareness campaigns in educational institutions, road safety promotion on social media through the BTRC, and changes to the language and presentation of motorcycle advertising. It also recommended building safe road infrastructure and introducing accessible, affordable and passenger-friendly public transport. The organisation blamed reckless riding by teenagers and young people, disregard for traffic laws, weak enforcement, a lack of awareness programmes, faulty road infrastructure, gaps in technology and surveillance, the absence of easy public transport and unbearable congestion. Mozammel Haque Chowdhury warned that everyone must obey the law, otherwise such accidents will keep happening and the procession of deaths on the roads will continue.