Md.

Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9

Research Article AJTL 2019,2:9

American Journal of Transportation and Logistics

(ISSN:2637-6172)

Analysis of Road Accidents in Bangladesh

Md. Sharif Hossen

Department of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) at Comilla University (CoU),

Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

Recently road accidents are regular occurrences in all over the *Correspondence to Author:
world. With the growth of motorization, urbanization and number Md. Sharif Hossen
of road users, the number of accidents and fatalities on road are Depar tment of Information and
increasing with the passage of time. In Bangladesh, thousands Communication Technology (ICT)
of people die every year due to street accidents. Most of the road at Comilla University (CoU), Ban-
accidents take place in the urban areas and in the highways. gladesh
Proper and rational rates of accidents and corresponding trends
are required to understand or judge the situation accordingly. In
this paper, an investigation has been done to evaluate the rate of How to cite this article:
road traffic accidents and fatalities trends in terms of total num- Md. Sharif Hossen . Analysis of
ber of accidents per year, and total number of registered vehicles Road Accidents in Bangladesh.
per year using police reported accident data. Here, investigated American Journal of Transportation
results show that the proportion of accidents and fatalities from and Logistics, 2019,2:9.
year 2010 to 2016 is approximately 1. It is really alarming situa-
tion in Bangladesh for increasing the number of fatalities with the
equal number of accidents. Besides, number of fatalities is great-
er than number of accidents (equal to 2027) in the year 2014.
The rate of accident, fatality, injury and causality is increasing eSciPub LLC, Houston, TX USA.
in the year from 2014 to 2016 under the calculation of excluding Website: http://escipub.com/
motor cycles compared to including motor cycles.

Keywords: road accidents; fatalities; injuries; bangladesh road

transport authority; traffic

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 1
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9

1. Introduction speedy vehicles fall into the roadside ditch or

into the river (Figure 2) and thus kill the
Road accident is one of the biggest causes of
passengers on the spot (Figure 3) [2].
unnatural deaths in Bangladesh. In fact, the
country has one of the highest rates of death However, this problem should be solved by
from road crashes in the world, according to taking necessary steps. Traffic rules should be
World Bank statistics. Road accident in imposed strictly. Passers-by and drivers should
particular isnow acknowledged to be a global be aware. Radio and television can play a vital
phenomenon with authorities in virtually all role in this regard. In case of Bangladesh, the
countries of the world concerned about the number of accidents and fatalities are on road
growth in the number of people killed and are also stepping up with the passage of time.
seriously injured on their roads [1]. The causes But all these comparisons are based only on
of street accidents are reckless driving, brake numbers. Severity and fatality in road accidents
failures of vehicles, over-taking of one vehicle by demand extra attention in addition to numbers as
another, driving by unskilled drivers. Over it is a complex combination and interaction of
loading of vehicles is another reason for different road user, vehicular, environmental,
accidents. Another reason is violation of traffic road and roadside factors. Hence to understand
rules. The traffic police department has a crucial or judge an accident scenario accordingly,
role to play in identifying and holding influence and contribution of all the related
accountable reckless driving, speeding and factors are needed to be taken in account and
unstable or overloaded vehicles (Figure 1). on the basis of these proper and rational rates of
Sometimes pedestrians are crashed under the accidents and corresponding trends are required
wheels of heavy vehicles. Sometimes the to be drawn [1][3].

Figure 1: Real scenario of traffic at Dhaka city in Bangladesh [4]

Figure 2: Real scenario of speedy vehicles falling into the river

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 2
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9

Figure 3: Real scenario of road traffic accident on the spot

The proposed law of road transport act to reduce yearly accident trends has been discussed. In
the number of accidents in the year 2010 has section IV, trends of yearly accidents with
been approved from 27 march 2017, making it registered motor vehicles and composition has
mandatory for drivers to have passed eighth been analyzed. Finally some concluding
grade to be eligible for driving license. The draft remarks with future works have been presented
act at a glance following [5] pertaining to the observations.
i) Sitting in the seats researved for women, 2. Related Works and Data Collection
children or people with special needs in public Bangladesh police is the main trusted source of
transports will result in 1 month in jail or TK 5,000 collecting accidental data as they formally
fine. collects and records all the accidents within the
ii) Drivers using mobile phones or intoxicated country in the form of First Information Record
while driving will be jailed for 1 month or fined TK (FIR). Data for road accidents and casualties
5,000. (including number of fatality and injuries) are
iii) Driving on the wrong side will result in 3 collected from Bangladesh Road Transport
months in jail or TK 35,000 fine. iv) Death Authority (BRTA 1) [6] for the year 1994 to 2015
caused by racing will result in 3 years in jail or and data for the year 1970 to 1993 are collected
TK 25 lakh fine. from Statistical Yearbooks of Bangladesh
published by Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
In this paper, the safety situation in Bangladesh
(BBS) [7] [1]. Data for the year 2016 are
has been presented in terms of number of
collected from [8] 2. Collected data are shown in
accidents and fatalities occurring each year over
Table 1 for the year from 1970 to 2016.
the time period subsequently accident and
fatality rates in terms of unit registered motor Data of several categories of registered motor
vehicles over the time has been evaluated. A vehicles from year 2011 to 2016 have been
detail analysis of the collected data has been collected from BRTA [6], which is shown in Table
discussed in section II. In section III, analysis of 2.
AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 3
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
Table 1: Police Reported Accidents (1970 - 2016)

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 4
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
Table 2: Number of Registered Motor Vehicles in Bangladesh (Year Wise)

3. Analysis of Yearly Accident Trends the year 2008. We see the proportion of
3.1. Trends of Yearly Road Accidents and accidents and fatalities from year 2010 to 2016
Fatalities is approximately 1. It is really alarming situation
in our country for equaling the number of
From Figure 4, we see that number of accidents
fatalities with the number of accidents. Besides,
and fatalities have been changing over the years.
number of fatalities is greater than number of
Number of accidents has increased from 1,140
accidents (equal to 2027) in the year 2014.
in 1972 to 2566 in 2016, nearly 2.3 times (which
Although number of accidents is decreasing
is 4.3 times up to 2007 [1]. The highest number
from year 2007 to 2013, number of accidents
of accidents reported is 5,448 in the year 1997.
and fatalities is increasing proportionally from
While highest number of fatalities reported is in
year 2014 to 2016.

Figure 4: Police reported trends of road accidents and fatalities (1970 – 2016)
AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 5
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
3.2. Trends of Yearly Road Accidents Injuries 2003. While trends of fatalities is greater than the
and Fatalities trends of injuries in the year from 2004 to 2016.
From Figure 5, it is clear that highest number of The greatest number of fatalities reported is in
injuries (which is 5076) is in the year 1997. the year 2008. Therefore, we see that trends of
Trends of injuries is greater than trends of fatalities is increasing compared to the trends of
fatalities up to 1998 and in the year from 2001 to injuries in the year from 2004.

Figure 5: Police reported trends of accidents injuries and fatalities (1970 – 2016)

3.3. Trends of Yearly Road Accidents and Total casualties in the year from 1970 to 1981. While
Casualties the trends of total number of casualties is always
From Figure 6, it is evident that number of greater than the trends of accidents in the year
accidents is greater than total number of from 1981 up to 2016. Therefore, number of
casualties is growing day by day.

Figure 6: Police reported trends of accidents and total casualties (1970 – 2016)

4. Trends of Yearly Accident with Motor 2016 for the simplicity. The overall composition
Vehicle Change and Composition of all the vehicles types depicts a mixed
In this investigation, we will take in account the characteristic. The increase in vehicle number
consideration of data in the year from 2011 to form year 2014 to 2016 was remarkable with the

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 6
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
increase of motor cycles as show in Figure 7. from year 2011 to 2013 due to the decrease of
Here we see the decrease in vehicle number motor cycle (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Police reported trends of accidents and total casualties (1970 – 2016)

Figure 8 estimates the percentages of the categories of vehicles in ascending order are
composition of different registered motor Motor cycle (62%), Minibus (11%), Delivery van
vehicles with total of same categories of vehicles (7%), Pick up (6%), Truck (4%), etc.
from year 2011 to 2016. Here the growing

Figure 8: Total vehicle composition (2011 – 2016)

From Figure 9, we see greater number of Figure 9 with Figure 7, the trends of accident,
casualties (total of fatalities and injuries) fatalities injuries and casualties is increasing
compared to accidents. Trends of fatalities is with the increase of number of motor vehicles in
very close to the trends of accidents. If we see the year from 2014 to 2016. Although with the
AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 7
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
decrease of number of motor vehicles in the year considered factors (i.e., road accidents, fatalities,
from 2011 to 2013, there are changes for injuries, and casualties).

Figure 9: Trends of yearly road accidents, fatalities, injuries, and casulties (2011 – 2016)

Now we will see the investigation of the rates of then we observe the trends of the considered
accidents, fatality, injury, and casualty. The above factors. Observing Figures 10 and 11 it is
calculated data is shown in Table 3 and 4. Table evident that shapes of both the curves are quite
3 shows the rate of accident, fatality, injury, identical in the year from 2011 to 2014. This
causality per 10,000 registered motor vehicles means trends of accident, fatality, injury and
including the number of registered motor cycles. causality rates are almost same whether
Table 4 shows the rate of accident, fatality, injury, numbers of registered motor vehicles including
causality per 10,000 registered motor vehicles or excluding motor cycle plying on road are
excluding the number of registered motor cycles. considered. Besides, we observe that the rate of
From Figure 8, we see that the greatest accident, fatality, injury and causality is
percentage of total motor vehicles composition increasing in the year from 2014 to 2016
in the year from 2011 to 2016 is 62% (motor excluding motor cycle (Figure 11). That is,
cycle as the type of vehicles). Now if we skip the although percentage of motor cycles (Figure 8)
consideration of motor cycle in this investigation, is higher (62%), these types of vehicles are not
the main reasons of accidents.

Table 3: Accident, Fatality, Injury, and Casualty per 10,000 Registered Motor Vehicles
(Including Motor Cycle)

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 8
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
Table 4: Accident, Fatality, Injury, and Casualty per 10,000 Registered Motor Vehicles
(Excluding Motor Cycle)

Figure 10: Trends of accident, fatality, injury and casualty per 10,000 motor vehicles on
road (including motor cycle) (2011 – 2016)

Figure 11: Trends of accident, fatality, injury and casualty per 10,000 motor vehicles on
road (excluding motor cycle) (2011 – 2016)
AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 9
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
5. Conclusion and Future Works BRTA believes that despite shortcomings, this
Road accident is a collision between two report will be helpful to the researchers, planners,
vehicles or an incident of vehicles happened on administrators and other stakeholders for
the road. It is a common affair in Bangladesh. On making future plan aiming at reducing road traffic
the analysis of trends of accidents for the year accidents in Bangladesh. Any suggestions in
from 1970 to 2016, we see that the proportion of relation to this report will be accepted cordially.
accidents and fatalities from year 2010 to 2016 This statement is available in the
is approximately 1, which is really an alarming http://www.brta.gov.bd/newsite/en/road-safety/
situation in Bangladesh. Especially this repository.
proportion is increasing from year 2014 to 2016. Consent for publication
The greatest number of accidents, fatalities,
This research paper has not been submitted for
injuries, and casualties investigated in this paper
publication in any journals. From the statement
is found respectively in the year 1997, 2008,
of above “Ethics approval and consent to
1997, and 1997. The trends of fatalities is
participate” section, it is evident that it is
greater than the trends of injuries in the year
consented for publication.
from 2004 to 2016. The trends of total number of
casualties is always greater than the trends of Availability of data and material
accidents in the year from 1981 up to 2016. The data-sets analyzed during the current study
Therefore, number of casualties is growing day are available in the
by day. For the simplicity, we see the trends of [http://www.brta.gov.bd/newsite/en/statistics-of-
the above factors in the year from 2011 to 2016, accident-casualties/] and
where it is clear that the number of casualties is [http://www.brta.gov.bd/newsite/en/road-safety/]
higher and the proportion of trends of accidents repository.
and fatalities is approximately 1. Since the Besides, some other data-sets used in this paper
greatest percentage of total motor vehicles are appropriately referred by the reference
composition in the year from 2011 to 2016 is 62% section. All the materials are stored in a csv file.
(motor cycles), we also investigate that rate of Graphical representation using python language
accident, fatality, injury and causality is has been done using this csv file.
increasing in the year from 2014 to 2016 under Competing interests
the calculation of excluding motor cycle
The author does not have any competing
compared to including motor cycle.
interests.
In near future we will compare the collected data
Funding
(in this paper only considered police reported
official data) with the data from various sources. This research did not receive any specific grant
The main reason is that there is big differences from funding agencies in the public, commercial,
among various data sources. For example, or not-for-profit sectors.
according to the report of Bangla tribune, a total Authors’ contributions
of 3,412 people were killed and 8,572 others Md. Sharif Hossen performed the primary
injured in 2,998 road accidents in 2016 [9]. While literature review, data collection, experiments,
our police reported data shows a total of 2,463 and also drafted the manuscript. He read and
people were killed and 2,134 others injured in approved the final manuscript.
2,566 road accidents in 2016 as shown in Table
Authors’ information:
1.
Md. Sharif Hossen is currently a Lecturer in
Declarations
Department of Information and Communication
Ethics approval and consent to participate Technology (ICT) at Comilla University (CoU),

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 10
 Md. Sharif Hossen, AJTL, 2019; 2:9
Bangladesh. He was former Lecturer in References
Department of Computer Science and 1. Alam M. S., Mahmud S. M. S., Hoque M. S.: Road
Engineering (CSE) at Southeast University accident trends in Bangladesh: a comprehensive
(SEU), and research assistant in Department of study. Annual paper meet (APM) and the Civil
Engineering Congress, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Information and Communication Engineering
(2011).
(ICE) at University of Rajshahi (RU). He 2. Anjuman T., Rabbi S. H. E., Siddiqui C. K. A.,
completed his B. Sc. (Bachelor of Science) and Hoque M. M.: Road traffic accident: a leading
M. Sc. (Master of Science) from Dept. of ICE at cause of the global burden of public health injuries
University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He and fatalities. In: International Conference on
Mechanical Engineering (2007).
achieved faculty first position in both degrees.
3. Labib S. M., Mohiuddin H., Shakil S. H.: Transport
His research interests include delay-tolerant sustainability of Dhaka: a measure of ecological
networking, wireless ad hoc, sensor, underwater footprint and means for sustainable transportation
and vehicular networks, road accidents issues, system. In: Journal of Bangladesh Institute of
as well as considerations of privacy in the Planners (2013).
4. Report about traffic jam in Bangladesh,
Internet of Things. He is also interested in
https://ferdousaiub.wordpress.
applying big data techniques. He has published com/2014/12/09/report-about-traffic-jam-in-
three journal papers, ten international bangladesh/ (2014).
conference papers, and one book chapter. He 5. Road transport act has no penalty for fatal
received several scholarships like ICT research accidents,
http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/0
fellowship (for M. Sc. thesis), UGC scholarship
3/27/cabinet-approves-road-
(for B. Sc.), and Merit scholarship for 6. transport-act-without-penalty-fatal-accidents/
outstanding academic result in University of (2017).
Rajshahi. He received Best Paper Award at the 7. Bangladesh road transport authority (BRTA),
IEEE ICISET 2016 conference at IIUC, http://www.brta.gov.bd /newsite/en/whole-
bangladesh-up-to-sep-2016/ (2017).
Bangladesh. He is the reviewer of several
8. Statistical year book of bangladesh 2008,
international journals. Bangladesh breau of statistics (2017).
Acknowledgements 9. Road traffic accidents kill 14, injure dozens in
three Bangladesh districts,
The author would like to thank various http://bdnews24.com/bangladesh/2016/09/17/
newspaper’s authority, Bangladesh road road-traffic-accidents-kill-10-injure-dozens-in-
transport authority (BRTA), and Bangladesh three-bangladesh-districts (2016).
bureau of statistics (BBS) for reporting the 10. 3,412 killed in 2,998 road accidents in Bangladesh,
http://www.dhakatribune .com/bangladesh/2017/
statistics of road accidents.
01/02/road-accidents-killed-bangladesh/ (2017)

AJTL: http://escipub.com/american-journal-of-transportation-and-logistics/ 11