Dhaka-Ctg highway most accident-prone: study

The Dhaka-Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar highway has emerged as Bangladesh’s most accident-prone major highway, with 228 crashes and 928 casualties recorded over 18 months through June, according to an Asian Development Bank-supported study.

The study counted 658 crashes on 10 national highways. It identified the N1, N8, N2 and N5 routes as requiring urgent safety interventions. The Dhaka-Barishal-Kuakata highway recorded 98 crashes, the Dhaka-Sylhet-Tamabil route recorded 79, and the Dhaka-Aricha-Banglabandha highway recorded 65.

Head-on collisions were the deadliest crash type, accounting for 2,129 casualties, or 44 percent of the total, including 695 deaths. Large buses were linked to the highest number of casualties, while motorcycles recorded the highest number of fatalities. The study also recorded 247 pedestrian deaths, mainly in semi-urban and rural areas.

At a seminar in Dhaka, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Shaikh Rabiul Alam called for a specialised police division staffed by officers with long-term training and experience in road safety and highway management. He also urged better driver training, vehicle fitness checks, speed control, greater helmet use and public awareness. The government, he said, aims to enact a comprehensive road safety law by December 2027 and meet its 2030 road-safety targets.

A separate ADB-supported study found that 91.47 percent of the Roads and Highways Department’s 22,719-kilometre network was rated good or fair in 2025-26, up from 73.7 percent in 2018-19 and 89.7 percent in 2022-23. It said routine maintenance remained difficult because field offices oversee large networks. The study recommended preventive maintenance and performance-based contracts to identify and repair road defects more quickly.