The World Health Organization projects that road traffic incidents will become the third leading cause of injury/disease globally by 2020. Unless steps are taken to improve road traffic safety, fatalities and injuries will likely increase by 65% from 1.2 million deaths and 50 million injuries globally today.
Every 5 seconds a crash occurs.
Every 7 seconds a property damage crash occurs.
Every 10 seconds there is a traffic-related injury.
Every 2 minutes there is an alcohol-related injury.
Every 12 minutes someone dies in a roadway crash.
Every 31 minutes an alcohol-related fatality occurs.
In Bangladesh, road transportation is the major mode of transport in our country and it is clear that it will continue for decades to come. Roads, highways and streets are fundamental to our transportation system and over 70 percent of passenger travel and much of our goods movement is over the highways. There is no doubt that road transportation is vitally important to our economic and social welfare and must be so maintained and continually improved with due consideration of safety, minimizing accident hazards and risks.
Road accidents and injuries are now a growing and serious problem in Bangladesh and the safety situation is very severe by international standard. Each year as reported to police, more than 3300 individuals- including from among our peers, our family, our friends and our coworkers- lose their lives in road traffic accidents in Bangladesh and many more sustain disabling injuries. In economic terms, road accidents in Bangladesh is costing community in the order of Tk. 5000 crore (approximately US $ 850 million) which is nearly 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
