Unending disorder on Dhaka roads

The police have just wrapped up a month-long traffic campaign in the capital city and nothing much has changed when it comes to the mentality of both drivers and pedestrians with regards to obeying rules of the road. Pedestrians continue to jaywalk ignoring both zebra crossings and foot over-bridges/underpasses. Drivers wilfully break the law at every junction and traffic light whenever the opportunity arises. Then there is the new menace of motorcycles which continually change lanes without giving proper signals.

The traffic campaign was aided by members of the Rover Scouts, Girl Guides, Red Crescent and other organisations which made people obey traffic rules. Now that the traffic campaign has ended, it's back to business as usual. This paper highlighted specific instances of wilful disregard of the law on October 1 and it seems that most drivers, of either two-wheeled or four-wheeled vehicles, have little idea about road signs! And why would they? The bulk of drivers have never had to go to driving school or study traffic rules and regulations to take a driving test that is mandatory in most countries.

The police filed a record number of cases—170,000—for traffic violations during the awareness-raising campaign and realised about Tk 14 crore in fines. And just when vehicle drivers and owners were beginning to feel the pinch, the campaign was ended. As we have stated before, bringing about a change in the mindset of people who have grown used to not obeying laws has to be a continuous campaign by law enforcers. Our experience over the last two days is that people have reverted back to their old ways and merely blaming the police is not going to change anything on our roads.