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At least 360 students were killed and 109 others injured in 320 road accidents across Bangladesh during the first six months of 2026, highlighting the country’s continuing road safety crisis despite repeated calls for stronger preventive measures.
The alarming figures were released on Saturday by the Bangladesh Passengers’ Welfare Association (Jatri Kalyan Samity) to mark the 15th anniversary of the devastating Mirsarai road tragedy, one of the deadliest accidents in the country’s history.
In a statement, the organisation’s Secretary General, Mozammel Hoque Chowdhury, said the continued loss of young lives underscores the urgent need for systematic road safety education involving students, teachers and parents.
He said that in the absence of regular awareness programmes and effective safety measures following the Mirsarai tragedy, Bangladesh continues to witness a disturbing number of student deaths and injuries in road crashes every year. Many of the injured, he added, are left with permanent disabilities, placing a long-term burden on families and society.
According to the association’s statistics, January recorded 57 road accidents involving students, leaving 57 dead and 22 injured. February saw 39 accidents that claimed 47 student lives and injured 11 others.
March emerged as the deadliest month, with 59 accidents killing 67 students, although only one injury was reported during the month. In April, 51 accidents left 56 students dead and 25 injured.
May recorded the highest number of student-related road accidents, with 61 crashes killing 73 students and injuring 23 others. In June, another 53 accidents claimed the lives of 60 students and left 27 injured.
Recalling the Mirsarai tragedy of July 11, 2011, Mozammel said a mini-truck carrying students from several educational institutions plunged into a roadside ditch after losing control in Chattogram’s Mirsarai upazila, killing 45 people, most of them schoolchildren.
The accident remains the deadliest single road crash in Bangladesh’s history and prompted nationwide calls for improved road safety.
However, Mozammel alleged that successive governments have failed to introduce sustained road safety awareness programmes for students in the years since the tragedy.
He said neither educational institutions nor guardians have developed sufficient awareness about safe road use, resulting in hundreds of preventable student deaths every year.
To tackle the problem, the Jatri Kalyan Samity put forward a five-point recommendation aimed at strengthening road safety around educational institutions.
The proposals include incorporating road safety education into school curricula and organising at least one hour of road safety awareness sessions every month involving students, teachers and road safety experts.
The organisation also recommended installing zebra crossings at every road-crossing point on national and regional highways, especially near schools and colleges, along with clearly visible school zone signboards.
It further called for deploying trained “road safety guards” wearing reflective vests and carrying red flags to stop traffic and assist students crossing busy highways near educational institutions.
In addition, the association urged every educational institution to establish a road safety committee comprising teachers and students to promote awareness and monitor safety issues on a regular basis.
Road safety campaigners have long argued that stronger enforcement of traffic laws, improved road infrastructure, safer school transport and sustained public awareness campaigns are essential to reducing the country’s high rate of road fatalities, particularly among children and students.
