Many pedestrians were seen using the excuse of “being late” to avoid getting fined on the second day of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s drive against jaywalking at Farmgate, Karwan Bazar and Banglamotor intersections on Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue in the capital.
The mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Md Sarwoer Alam also ordered the first prison sentence in the drive yesterday, sentencing a jaywalker named Tania to a month of prison for biting a police official when stopped from jaywalking.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, the executive magistrate said: “Tania, 22, tried to cross the street at the Karwan Bazar intersection without using the underpass or the zebra crossing, when a female police stopped her. She tried to force her way through, but when the female police kept stopping her, she bit her.”
Adding that the convict was of sound mind, the executive magistrate said she was sentenced to prison under Section 353 of the Penal Code.
Meanwhile, the majority of pedestrians were seen following police’s instruction and crossed the streets by footbridges, the underpass and zebra crossings.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune yesterday evening, DMP Joint Commissioner (Traffic) Moslem Uddin said a total of 255 people were fined to pay a total of Tk13,075 for jaywalking on the second day of the drive, and one person was sentenced with prison time.
On the first day, 331 people were fined a total of Tk24,095.
The situation yesterday was quite similar to the previous day – traffic and pedestrian movement was disciplined compared to any other day. The two mobile courts led by Executive Magistrates Md Sarwoer Alam and Abdul Kuddus conducted the drive in the three aforementioned intersections.
Fined pedestrians claim having no time to waste
On the second day of the anti-jaywalking drive, pedestrians who were fined for breaking the rules claimed they were on a rush to get to their destinations, as opposed to the previous day when those who were fined claimed they did not know about the drive.
Visiting one of the intersections, this correspondent witnessed a conversation between police on duty and a pedestrian named Hasibur Rahman, who said: “I know the drive started yesterday [Tuesday]. But I do not have time to take the footbridge as I am already late to work.”
Not only Hasibur, but a lot of jaywalkers were seen using the same argument to convince police when they were caught.
However, there were some pedestrians who said they could not take the footbridges due to illness or physical disabilities, while some others claimed being unaware of the drive.
Abdul Awal, 58, one such pedestrian, told the Dhaka Tribune that he was unaware of the drive and was unable to climb stairs due to illness.
“I cannot climb stairs due to my illness. I was on my way to my doctor’s when I tried to cross the road and was stopped by police. When I explained my situation to them, they let me go,” he said.
According to DMP data, 950 people were killed in the capital in road accidents between 2010 and 2014, and jaywalking was involved in most of those incidents.
Pedestrians are habituated in using the shortest way by crossing busy roads in front of moving vehicles and consequently fall victim to fatal accidents.
Tanvir Hasan of the Accident Research Institute at Buet told the BBC Bangla that people would be encouraged to use footbridges and underpasses more, if more of these were constructed at the exact points accessible to them.
However, authorities at both Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations told the Dhaka Tribune that they were not constructing new footbridges because of the government’s future plans on metro rail and elevated expressway.
Md Sirajul Islam, chief town planner at Dhaka South City Corporation, told the Dhaka Tribune: “Every footbridge in the capital has been made following appropriate plan. Pedestrians must use them; we have also installed barrier in the middle of the road under as well as near every footbridge to ensure that.”
