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Dhaka-Sylhet highway: A ‘man-eating’ death trap
Published : Sunday, 30 August, 2026 at 10:10 AM
Observer Online Report
File Photo
The Dhaka-Sylhet Highway has earned the byname "man-eater" following a sharp spike in fatal road accidents.
In August alone, 22 people died in nine separate road crashes on the Sylhet stretch of the highway.
Road safety experts attribute the surge in crashes to five primary causes: slow progress in the six-lane expansion project, driver fatigue and sleepiness during long-haul trips, reckless speeding, risky overtaking, and the unchecked presence of unauthorized light vehicles.
Civic groups warned that the casualty count will worsen unless strict traffic management is enforced.
Data from Nirapad Sarak Chai (NISCHA) revealed that 43 people died in 33 road accidents across the Sylhet division in August.
The Dhaka-Sylhet Highway accounted for 22 of those fatalities across nine crashes.
The Osmaninagar stretch in Sylhet emerged as the deadliest zone, recording 15 deaths across four accidents.
Zahirul Islam Mishu, President of NISCHA Sylhet District, criticized drivers for showing complete disregard for passenger safety by speeding recklessly. He added that ineffective highway police monitoring contributes significantly to the rising crash figures.
The month's deadliest accident occurred on August 7 at Kashikapan in Osmaninagar upazila, where a head-on collision between a Bengal Paribahan sleeper bus and a Unique Paribahan bus killed nine people.
Although numerous companies operate sleeper buses along this corridor, none hold official route permits or legal clearance. Following the incident, district authority fined five sleeper bus operators during a mobile court drive.
Commuters and transport workers complained that sluggish progress on the Dhaka-Sylhet six-lane expansion project causes severe traffic bottlenecks. As a result, a standard six-hour journey frequently stretches to 8 to 12 hours, doubling driver shifts and inducing severe fatigue.
Drivers leaving Dhaka overnight often face extreme sleepiness upon reaching the Sylhet section at dawn.
Furthermore, to make up for lost time in traffic jams, drivers race recklessly along the open stretches, leading to head-on crashes during unsafe overtaking maneuvers.
A lack of continuous highway police surveillance allows drivers to violate traffic regulations with impunity.
Khairul Bashar Md Saddam Hossain, Executive Engineer of the Roads and Highways Department (RHD) in Sylhet, pointed to reckless driving as the dominant cause of frequent collisions.
Rezaul Karim, Superintendent of Highway Police (Sylhet Region), stated that the Osmaninagar stretch in Sylhet and the Madhabpur stretch in Habiganj remain the most accident-prone zones.
He cited poor road conditions due to six-lane expansion work, driver fatigue during early morning hours, and the illegal operation of three-wheeler vehicles on national highways as major factors driving the spike in fatal crashes.
-SA
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Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
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Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Advertisement: 41053012; 01793317829, 01550707291, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] Online: email: [email protected] 41053014; 01550707297 Advertisement: 01550707296
