Re-designing the rickshaw
Today, I am nursing a bloody knee from a fall from a rickshaw but I suppose that two such falls in 11 1/2 years is not too bad. It reminded me of one of the saddest Bangladeshi stories - of a dedicated engineer and designer who came here and re-designed the rickshaw, made a prototype according to the science of ergonomics - but no one followed it up. How do you help people who do not want to be helped?
Could not some department of state give some training in metal work to some unemployed young men, (including graduate engineers who have been educated at the expense of the state?) and send them off to train those who make rickshaws, to re-make them according to a better plan? The 'carrot and stick' method will doubtless be needed - maybe a financial reward to the owner (that covers the cost of the alteration - plus a bit extra) and the threat that all rickshaws not according to the agreed design will be scrapped in 3 years' time in Dhaka and 5 years' time throughout the country…. Maybe some mechanics could be trained to convert rickshaws into bicycles that could be given free to schoolchildren living far from their schools.
This vehicle that is part blessing, part curse, can surely become one that is a great deal kinder to both puller and client - and reduce deaths from road accidents at the same time.
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