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Traffic signal system in hopeless mess

Manual control of traffic at many places confuses people

Rizanuzzaman Laskar
On a smoggy December morning, an 11-year-old girl while crossing die busy intersection in city's Gulshan had a lucky escape as her schoolbag cushioned her from being hit seriously by a car that was moving despite red signal.
She was with another young girl -- maybe a maid. Probably, they saw the red light on the traffic signal and decided that it was safe
intersection was signalling the cars to move forward with his hand. And she obviously did not see the car that came cruising towards her."
These two incidents show a common phenomenon - flouting red traffic signals by drivers and controlling traffic manually, not by signal lights.
"No one really respects the traffic lights anymore," said Belal Hossain, a driver. "AU [motorists'] eyes tend
tion from the owners or drivers of the vehicles that caused the damage.
City motorists are becoming more and more accustomed to sitting through green lights with their eyes on the back of the traffic enforcer rather than on die traffic signal.
Similar scenes are prevalent in many city intersections including Moghbazar, Ma 1 ibagh, R a m p u r a, Gulshan, Notun Bazar, Mohakhali, Motijhcel,
to cross the street.
" But a car came out from nowhere. By the time the driver stopped the car, its front lights had bumped into the girl," a witness said. "Luckily, her bag packed with sweater and books protected her from a serious accident, possibly saving her life."
In another incident, a middle-aged woman at Bangla Motor avoided a fatal accident when a station wagon screeched into its brakes inches away from her. The woman was visibly in a shock, and was taken by feUow pedestrians to a safe distance.
"The woman decided to cross the street after seeing the traffic signal flashing into red," said Faisal Hossain, an onlooker, "but what she did not see was how the traffic police at the
to hover on traffic police and his hands. And when there is no traffic police in sight, which is not rare, everyone keeps their eyes on the street ahead and cruises through whenever an opportunity comes."
While over 68 traffic signals switched on at different city intersections over the past few years, practical usage of many of the signals has been next to zero.
Moreover, during power outages, traffic lights do not work Road accidents and careless digging of roads for repair also made some signals unusable.
According to unofficial sources, over 20 traffic signal posts have been damaged because of road accidents. Reportedly, the authorities concerned failed to realise compensa-
Green Road and Elephant Road.
"I have observed that most of the time the traffic police would hold off the car through the green light and let them go when the light flashes into red," said Mosharraf Hossain, a retired government official and resident of Gulshan.
"Maybe it is just coincidence, but it is a really striking. If you observe traffic movement at the Gulshan intersections closely for a few hours, you just cannot missit," he said.
"In fact many accidents have taken place right before my eyes because of the signal confusion. Luckily none of them has been fatal. But the real problem is with the authorities who will not do something unless something really bad happens," he
added.
On Wednesday evening, Manik, a Dhaka University student, hailed a rickshaw to reach his university. The rickshawpuller asked him to show the way, as he was new to the city.
"1 thought that maybe I should also familiarise him with the basic traffic rules. And I began with the traffic signal lights," said Manik, "I explained to him that when the signal turns red, the vehicle stops and when it turns green, the vehicle starts to move again."
As he was explaining the rules, the rickshaw approached a red light and the rickshawpuller slowed down as he was told. However, the traffic police standing there was waving his stick, gesturing the vehicles to go in spite of the red light.
"I could feel my cheeks burning red as the rickshawpuller turned around, smiled and seemed to ask a question I simply did not have a right answer to," said Manik.
TYaffic officers say they direct the flow of traffic as the situation demands.
"If we let the streets be controlled by the traffic lights, there would be absolute chaos," said a traffic sergeant from Mohakhali requesting anonymity.
"We direct the flow of traffic depending on the traffic situation in nearby streets. We have communication links with fellow traffic officers who notify us about the condition of traffic in adjacent streets,” he said.
"We direct the flow of traffic based on these factors," he said. "The traffic signals do play a significant role, but relying on them would be foolish," he added.
"Traffic in most city streets are controlled solely by traffic police while series of greens and reds flash by without any consequence whatsoever," said Jahangir Hossain, a retired police sub-inspector from Mohammadpur.
"Both traffic police officers and the signals are equally important in controlling street traffic, and they should be allowed to play their roles as required," he said.4