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Traffic in Dhaka: How not to do anything!

Muffazel Hossain
YOU live five kilometres from Motijheel C/A or the Secretariat. What time do you think you should leave home to keep an appointment for 10 a.m. Going by car, you think that 9 o’clock would be good enough to get you there by 9:30 or 9:45. You are totally mistaken, sir. It would take you anywhere between 90 minutes to 150 minutes because of the gridlock
This is not a problem for one day, or for one particular hour of the day. It is perennial, and with each day it is aggravating.
Occasionally, the PM or some minister meet with "experts" and traffic enforcement officials. The experts come up with
recommendations like building an underground railway, sky rail, circular riverine transport etc. Thus the meetings go on, while a few thousand more vehicles clog the Dhaka roads.
To city dwellers, it seems that the policy makers and implementers are ignorant of the magnitude of the problem. Agreed, that we need a mass transport system, but think of the investment and time needed to implement such an ambitious project. During that time, another thirty or forty thousand vehicle will be on the road. It would simply not be possible to keep more than one appointment or to do more than one job in two different places. Of course, we will have to go for mass transit as soon as possible.
But, in the meantime, what should we do to ease the situation?.
Here are some options the government could consider:
• The traffic police must be trained to regulate traffic flow. Some donor agencies, including UNDP, are willing to provide technical support to train our traffic police and modernise our traffic system.
• The duty hours of the traffic police should be reduced to a maximum of six hours. They should be paid adequately.
• We cannot increase the existing road surface overnight. As such, we need to ensure efficient use of the available road surface. A considerable part of the roads is occupied by parked vehicles, vendors and construction materials. The government has to be absolutely sincere in removing these obstacles.
• Traffic rules have to be followed religiously.
• Make sure that buses and mini-buses stop at designated places, and do not double-park to get passengers.
• There are too many intersections and turnings. Vehicles taking U turn cause interruption in traffic flow. The necessity of having so many U turns needs to be examined and re-adjusted.
• The government must make it compulsory for schools to introduce school buses.
• Making it a rule that private vehicles with even registration numbers will ply on the roads on even dates, and the odd registration numbers will ply on odd dates.
• There must be a restriction on the import of vehicles for private use, but import of buses and mini-buses should be encouraged.
There was a time when we visited rela- £ lives and friends, but because of the traffic problem such socialising has almost stopped. This is causing a distancing between people.
Dear readers, the traffic jams not only cause many problems, they also make a dent in the social fabric.
Muffazef Hossain is a former Secretary