Pedestrians and motorcyclists have accounted for more than four out of every five road fatalities in Dhaka over the past six and a half years, highlighting the growing safety risks on the capital`s streets, according to a new analysis by the Road Safety Foundation (RSF).
The report said 1,384 people were killed and another 2,488 injured in 1,849 road accidents across the capital between 2020 and July 2026.
Of those killed, 592 were pedestrians, making up 42.77 percent of the total fatalities, while 536 motorcyclists accounted for another 38.72 percent.
The remaining 256 victims were drivers and passengers of buses, rickshaws, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and other vehicles.
The data also showed that men were the worst affected, with 1,034 deaths or 74.71 percent of the total.
Women accounted for 219 fatalities (15.82 percent), while 131 children (9.46 percent) also lost their lives in road crashes.
According to the analysis, most fatal accidents occurred at night, when 519 people were killed, representing 37.5 percent of all deaths.
Morning claimed 258 lives (18.64 percent), followed by the afternoon with 195 deaths (14.08 percent), evening with 174 (12.57 percent), dawn with 142 (10.26 percent), and nightfall with 96 (6.93 percent).
Heavy vehicles, including trucks, covered vans, pickups, tankers and garbage trucks, were involved in 33.25 percent of the crashes, the highest among all vehicle categories. Motorcycles were involved in 26 percent of the accidents, followed by buses at 21.75 percent, auto-rickshaws, CNG-run vehicles and legunas at 12.73 percent, and private cars, microbuses and jeeps at 6.25 percent.
The RSF said the absence of bypass roads forces heavy goods vehicles to pass through the capital between 10pm and dawn, often at high speed, increasing the danger for pedestrians.
It also pointed to chronic traffic congestion, saying long hours on the road often lead to impatient and reckless driving, raising the risk of accidents.
The report identified several other contributing factors, including insufficient road capacity for the growing number of vehicles, the mixing of slow- and high-speed traffic, encroached footpaths, poorly designed or inaccessible footbridges, and a lack of road safety awareness among commuters.
Jatrabari, Demra, Mohammadpur, Kuril, Bishwaroad and Airport Road were identified as the city`s major accident hotspots.
To improve road safety, the RSF recommended introducing company-based bus operations through route rationalisation to bring greater discipline to the public transport system.
It also called for closer coordination among the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC), Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), the two city corporations and traffic police to implement comprehensive road safety measures across the capital.
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