The roads outside Dhaka are killing people and we have normalised it completely
My cousin died on the Dhaka-Sylhet highway two years ago. He was 31. A bus overtook a truck on a curve and hit his car head on. He died at the scene. The bus driver fled. The case went nowhere. Bangladesh has one of the highest road fatality rates in the world. According to official figures, over 5,000 people die on roads every year. Researchers say the real number is much higher because many accidents in rural areas are never recorded. Everyone knows why. Drivers with fake licences. Buses with no fitness certificates. No enforcement of speed limits. Roads designed without proper safety standards. Night travel on highways that have no lighting, no dividers, no lane markings. And yet after every major accident, the response is the same. A minister says something. An investigation is announced. A committee is formed. Then the next accident happens. I am genuinely asking: is there any organisation actually holding authorities accountable on road safety? Any legal avenue for families of victims? Any petition or movement that has had actual impact? My aunt is still waiting for justice two years later. I do not know what else to tell her.