Nirapad Sarak Chai (NISCHA) – a non-profit voluntary organisation – had decided to halt the release of annual statistics on road, rail, and waterways accidents, due to significant mismatch in data provided by government and non-government bodies.
Nischa Chairman Ilias Kanchan made the announcement at a press conference in the capital’s National Press Club on Monday.
He also urged the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) to set up a unified monitoring cell under the supervision of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
“There is lack of cooperation from the government. Its agencies are providing different information. After repeated requests, we saw that the BRTA started providing accident statistics last year. But it does not match police reports.”
In a written statement, Elias pointed that NISCHA has been releasing statistics on road accidents from 2012 to 2022. However, there have been controversies when other organisations present accident statistics that varies from our data.
“So, NISCHA has decided not to publish statistics for 2023.”
He then said, “We have persistently informed the government that it is not possible for any non-governmental organisation or any individual to paint the whole picture. For this, a government monitoring cell and the need for public support is essential.”
Quoting road safety experts, he said that existing Road Transport Act-2018 and Road Safety Rules-2022 are mainly transport-related laws. “Therefore, these laws and regulations are not enough to properly implement the global and national level initiatives.”
“Police publish reports on instant road crashes after filing cases which do not show the real picture because in most cases, people are unwilling to file cases after road crash,” he added.
According to BRTA, 5,024 people were killed in 5,495 road accidents whereas police reports said 4,475 people were killed in 5,093 accidents and Bangladesh Road Safety Foundation and Jatri Kalyan Samity showed different figures which create confusion.
According to WHO, 24,944 people were killed in road accidents in 2018 though police reports said that it was 2,635. WHO conducts its survey by collecting data from DGHS.
Kanchan said, “Both BRTA and DGHS are government agencies, then why there is data mismatch? We think that due to the opposing position of the two ministries, the cause of the accident could not be properly revealed in the country.”
“It is necessary to make a concerted effort by the government to determine the correct statistics on road accidents and allay the confusion in a bid to build a road accident-free Bangladesh.”
The government started to work on road safety and security through BRTA. “If the government gives us the responsibility to conduct the survey and extend financial support, we can work jointly,” he added.
