Barisal City Corporation (BCC) has started to mark three-dimensional (3D) zebra crossings for the safety and security of commuters and pedestrians in Barisal.
BCC Mayor Serniabad Sadik Abdullah inaugurated this initiative on Saturday at the city intersections between School-Barisal Club and Rajabahadur Road-Police Line.
The mayor said: "We want to introduce this type of modern 3D zebra crossing markings at different parts of the city to ensure road safety and prevent road accidents, like other developed countries."
"It is an experimental drive. If proven fruitful, then it would be introduced at different roads and crossings of the city,” he added.
Barisal Metropolitan Police (BMP) Deputy Commissioner (Traffic) Khairul Islam said this type of 3D zebra crossings may increase visibility more than the traditional marking patterns.
Executive engineer of BCC Humayun Kabir said BCC is introducing this type of modern 3D zebra crossing at different parts of city roads to ensure road safety for transporters, passengers and pedestrians.
BCC has introduced this type of zebra crossing for the first time in Bangladesh. It may cost Tk900 per sqft, and would be visible at least three years, the BCC official added.
3D crosswalks around the world
The 3D crosswalk idea of a 10-year-old is said to have saved lives in Medford in the United States.
Isa and her classmate Eric, students at Brooks Elementary, spent months pitching their well-researched idea of a 3D crosswalk to Medford’s Mayor
Stephanie Burke. Later the mayor helped them to install it in front of their school, and she now plans to install a few more in other schools of the city as well.
This optical illusion has already been used in countries like England, China and India with a hope to force drivers to slow down and avoid cases of hit-and-run accidents.