Despite the government spending huge amounts of public money to develop road infrastructure, road safety is still a far cry in Bangladesh as there is no discipline in transport, traffic management, and execution of traffic law, experts said.
The observation was disclosed in a seminar on “Road safety in Dhaka: Role and initiative DTCA” at Buet Auditorium in Dhaka on Thursday.
The event was jointly organized by Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA), Accident Research Institute (ARI), and Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (Buet).
At the event, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader said: “We have not made much progress in terms of implementation compared to what has been discussed on road safety.”
“If we fail to bring discipline in transports and traffic management, infrastructural development would be meaningless,” he added.
The minister said: “Road accidents are a major concern for us. We are expecting that the joint study, recently started by DTCA and ARI will help us to ensure road safety,”
Prof Dr Md Hadiuzzaman. director of ARI delivered his keynote presentation at the seminar.
He said road accidents cause the death of 1.35 million people globally which is the 8th leading cause of death in the world.
As per police database, on an average, 3,000 road crashes occur in Bangladesh annually that results in 27,000 fatalities.
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Besides, Bangladesh faces the financial loss of around Tk25,000 crore -- 1% of the GDP -- due to road accidents.
Prof Hadiuzzaman said: “About one-fourth accidents in Bangladesh occur on different city roads. Of which, 74% are seen in areas under the DMP.”
He said pedestrians are the most vulnerable group as their fatality rate is 70%. DMP accounts for 72% of the pedestrian fatality on the city roads.
“Among the deceased, 52.4% belong to the working group age of between 21-40 years. Our Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target will not be achieved if accidents do not reduce 50% by 2030,” he added.
Major causes behind traffic problem
At the seminar, the major causes behind traffic problems and lack of road safety in Dhaka were discussed.
Non-engineered signal orientation, as well as junctions becoming bottlenecks and dictating the corridor capacity, were pointed out as major causes.
The experts also mentioned that lack of service road or driveway along the major roads where markets or high-rise commercial buildings are located as another reason behind traffic problems.
Other causes include road safety inspection being quite absent, vision obstruction and poor-sight distance at intersection, rickshaws and unfit motorized vehicles using the same road, shortages of adequate pedestrian facilities, and lack of proper non-motor vehicles facilities.
Recommendations
Dr Hadiuzzaman said: “To ensure road safety, we should identify the most vulnerable accident-prone locations and intersections in the city and fix a detailed safety design. We should give importance to pedestrian safety as well.”
He mentioned that School zoning is significantly important to ensure road safety.
Saying that the traffic signalling system is operated manually in the country, Prof Abdul Jabbar Khan, pro-vice-chancellor of Buet opined that digital traffic system should be shut down as it spends public money.
Architect Iqbal Habib said different organizations like Rajuk, and city corporations have their own plans but these plans and policies should be integrated. DTCA could play a role to coordinate among the agencies.
Dr Edris Ali, principal of the Science Laboratory Government School said the physical education teachers, and scout teams should be involved in building awareness and demonstration in schools.
Ilias Kanchan, chairman of Nirapad Sarak Chai, said the government should prioritize management rather than taking big projects.
Among others, Buet VC Satya Prasad Majumder, Road Transport and Highways Division Secretary Md Nazrul Islam, former executive director of DTCA Dr Saleh Uddin spoke at the seminar. DTCA executive director Khandakar Rakibur Rahman presided over the seminar.
