Traffic management
Photo: Wahid Adnan / driknews
An article on the matter was published in a local daily on December 25th. The writer stated that merely restricting private motor cars is not the solution of traffic problems of Dhaka. I agree, and believe that two distinct steps need to be taken to ensure that traffic is streamlined by speed and power. The first step is to segregate traffic by type of drive (powered or manual). Secondly, traffic police must control traffic by slots on time basis, rather than the traffic density in each direction, as they tend to do all the time. To ensure uniformity, light (manual powered) and heavy (engine powered) types of transports must have separate and identified lanes. There have to be separate, clearly identified lanes for cycles, cycle-vans, cycle-rickshaws, pushcarts and bicycles. For busy streets, this is a must, to begin with. Importantly, policemen managing traffic manually should allow traffic to move in time slots and not till all the vehicles have cross over in one direction, before releasing traffic from the other direction! This is the main reason for bunching of traffic on both sides of the road crossing. If the traffic policemen strictly follow this routine, then the tendency of traffic bunching up on both sides an intersection can be eased. Another solution, which may not be possible in all the crossings in Dhaka, is to have separate traffic lights for light and heavy vehicles. This should be introduced in Dhaka street crossings, wherever possible.
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