Traffic congestion in Dhaka city is a perennial problem that causes sufferings to the commuters and costs the economy dearly. Much has been said both about the problem and its solution since the early 90s from when the traffic situation in the city started getting worse.
Several factors are responsible for this problem and to solve those would require substantial investment and time. Streamlining the urban road infrastructures and introducing new modes of transportation should be on the top of the list of the tasks needed to be performed.
However, the problem can be largely addressed within a short time and with nominal investment through proper enforcement of traffic rules.
Though the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) is partly responsible as it regulates transports, traffic police is the main actor in controlling and managing city traffic.
Sadly enough, the state of the traffic law enforcement and management has been in a pitiable state in Bangladesh and police are to take the blame for this.
First of all, lax enforcement of traffic rules is mainly due to massive corruption. You will see cars are being stopped frequently in the middle of the road by a traffic constables, but instances of bus being stopped by them are rare.
The reason is it is done deliberately. The bus owners operate their buses on city streets by paying bribe to traffic police on a monthly basis.
This extortion is well-organised and systematic. A civilian toll collector is generally appointed unofficially by the traffic police for collecting the extortion money from the bus drivers on every route of the city. This money is shared with every tier of the police, including the top one, it is alleged.
And that is why the buses run recklessly, ignoring the traffic rules. All these are open secret, and are documented in numerous media reports.
It is also now widely known that political affiliation and bribe play a major role in recruitment and postings in the police department.
After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina's government, like other branches of police, members of traffic police abstained from their duties. The students volunteered to take over the responsibility of traffic management in Dhaka and some other cities and towns. Interestingly, these novice and utterly inexperienced boys and girls have brought about a cultural shift among commuters and city transports.
Since their takeover of the city streets, rickshaws were found plying on separate lanes. The vehicles meant to go to the right side of an intersection took the right side of the street, and buses were found totally forgetting their old habit of blocking the roads to collect more passengers. Traffic police are now back to work. It needs to be seen whether there is a change in their attitude. If not, the police authority should arrange motivational programmes.
This is the high time to properly train traffic police and motivate them so that they give up their past culture. The city dwellers obeyed the students at traffic points due to the moral strength of the latter. Traffic police should also earn the same respect.
If the traffic police can enforce traffic laws properly, traffic management will be easier. In that case, the problems of traffic congestion could be duly addressed.
According to a report, the total number of working hours lost on Dhaka's roads has surpassed eight million per day.
Snarl-ups on the roads of Dhaka, which is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world, with a population of over 21 million, caused severe economic, environmental and pubic heath-related problems.
The economic cost of traffic congestion, in terms of lost productivity, wasted fuel, and increased transportation costs, is estimated to be huge. Let us hope that the interim government will take proper measures to motivate the traffic police to enforce the traffic rules properly.
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