Take rickshaws off
Photo: Amdadul Huq /Driknews
Once again, my friend Mr. Sikander Ahmed of Niketon, Gulshan through his letter dated February 21, 2010 has compelled me to respond. Mr. Sikander himself has accepted that he has been continuously trying his best desperately to 'shut' everyone down whoever speaks sense in favour of banning rickshaws from Dhaka metropolitan city roads (in phases). He has specifically mentioned that he has 'sent off rebuttal' to DS against Mr. Chisti's remark. I surely, like almost all of us, look for ways to improve our traffic system. I notice that Mr. Sikander mostly points out to complicated numbers and information which often seems to me is an attempt to complicate the simple issue of traffic management. In one of my previous letters I had specified some short-term steps that would significantly reduce traffic mismanagement. Some of those steps were taken up by the authorities but sadly have now become idle again. One of the keys to maintain systematic flow of traffic is to implement and ALWAYS use automated traffic signalling system. It seems contradictory to me that on one hand DMP is putting up electronic displays that says that a country's image is reflected through its traffic management system, while on the other hand it itself does not use automated traffic signalling system. We can in the short term: 1. Make marked lanes on every main road, but not restrict all vehicles, only make the left most lanes restricted for buses ONLY and punish vigorously those who disobey traffic laws with very high fines. 2. Make turn lanes marked by 'TURN ONLY' at every intersection. 3. Absolutely ensure that busses do not stop anywhere on the road except at bus stops and surely make specific bus stops first. 4. Let the main roads run by AUTOMATIC signal lights except in times of emergency when a traffic police officer can guide the traffic. 5. Make sure that NO traffic officer EVER encourages any vehicle to “GO” on Red and “STOP” on Green. This practice is systematically ruining our habits even those of us who are willing to obey the laws. 6. Make sidewalks and foot over bridges FREE of illegal occupation and available for pedestrians. (This one step can reduce the traffic jams significantly throughout the city) 7. PUNISH, severely those who do not use the foot overbridge (where available), keep building more and more 8. Build fences around ALL major roads to separate the road and the sidewalk. There should be designated crossings where people will be allowed to cross the roads. 9. The dividers of the main roads MUST be high enough so that people cannot jump over it. 10. Buses must be made to move mostly on the left most lanes whenever possible. 11. The immediate step: Take rickshaws off the main roads. Do it now. In my view it should be among the top most priorities of the government to get rickshaws 'on check' and start to control them immediately and gradually get away from them for good.
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