Ensuring pedestrians' safe movement

Dhaka city dwellers do not seem to be keen on using foot over bridges. Rather, they are often seen crossing busy roads risking their lives. There are many fully functional foot-bridges in the capital. But pedestrians' reluctance to use over bridges is in fact one of the important causes of road accidents. Some foot bridges are almost unusable since they remain full with hawkers and beggars. Again, pedestrians cannot move on these bridges freely due to shops set up on the foot bridges and on the pavement. Sometimes, incidents like theft and snatching take place on the bridges, discouraging people to use those.

While it may be difficult for the elderly people to cross a road using a foot bridge, zebra crossings can help them cross the road without much difficulty. Most cities in the world have zebra crossings for crossing roads. These crossings are the cheapest and best way to manage pedestrian movement on busy roads during peak hours. However in Dhaka city, we see only a few zebra crossings. And what is more unfortunate is that moving vehicles are not willing to stop in front of such crossings.

Foot bridges and zebra crossings are meant for safe movement of pedestrians. However, they are not serving people much for lack of maintenance. So, we draw the attention of the authorities concerned to do the needful to ensure pedestrians' safe movement.

Md. Abdullah Almamun,

Student of Department of Sociology,

Jagannath University, Dhaka,

[email protected]