Fix the Traffic Before It Gets Crowded

TRAFFIC congestion in the metropolis was unprecedentedly chaotic during the closing days of the month of Ramadan. We did not raise the issue then because it would have been readily ascribed to the approaching Eid. We have also seen the contrast during the Eid holidays in terms of easy passage through emptier streets and the reduction in the pollution levels. So, what is the lesson here? Is it one of marvelling at the contrast, or bemoaning our helplessness, or indeed for utilising the experience to the best advantage of traffic management? We have inside of a week to go before the city traffic becomes explosive - back again. The Dhakaites who had left for their village homes on Eid holidays will have all returned to the metropolis by then. So we have very little time and space to put some corrective measures in place before the hell breaks loose.

We have four specific suggestions to offer to the government. First and foremost, the traffic intersections need to be freed up with bus, autorickshaw, and rickshaw stands removed at least a hundred yards away from them, if not more. There should be no stoppages or loading and unloading activities allowed near the intersections or in front of super markets and busy public places. Secondly, every so often inner roads are choked by placing a truck or a van while this has a bulging effect on the exterior traffic along bigger thoroughfares. In fact, the roads will have to be cleared of all impediments - squatting of hawkers, arbitrary parking of vehicles, reckless piling of construction materials and the jutting of business outfits on to roads, to say nothing of umpteen encroachments on the pavements. Impediment-specific regulatory measures need to be announced and enforced. Thirdly and crucially, the government has to ensure the deployment of an adequate number of well-trained policemen on traffic duties. Finally, where we are violating a basic traffic rule is that all sorts of vehicles, freight or passenger carrying, private or public, slow or fast-moving, are allowed to ply most of the thoroughfares. Lines will have to be drawn somewhere as is done in other metropolises.

By the look of things, traffic management must be at the bottom of the government's list of priorities. It is time this inexplicable negligence to traffic is replaced by a truly hands-on policy.