SM NAJMUS SAKIB
The road traffic in the city has been in a complete mess as both pedal and battery-run autorickshaws and easy-bike dominate the main roads amid a poor presence of traffic police.
Auto rickshaws have been found plying even the city flyover and enter some highly restricted areas. Road transport experts and city commuters alleged that the uncontrolled plying of these unscientific mode of transport on the streets were not only slowing down the traffic but also causing safety concerns.
Voluntary traffic maintenance is still found at the traffic signals in the city due to a less number of traffic police on duty.
Besides, heavy goods vehicles like trucks; pickup vans and covered vans are running on the city roads ignoring the daytime restriction.
Transport experts and traffic police termed the situation as "uncontrolled" which caused an adverse impact on the city traffic certainly after the August 5 changeover.
On Tuesday night around 9:00 pm, this correspondent saw some bikers stopping 8-10 auto-rickshaws and easy bikes on the Shanti Nagar flyover in the city for plying the flyover without permission, leaving other modes of vehicles at risk.
Despite the ban on the battery-run auto rickshaw and easy bikes on the main streets, they are seen dominating the main roads under the nose of traffic police.
Md Rashid Mia, a battery-run rickshaw driver on Rampura Road, told the FE that traffic police were not seen at many points. Furthermore, they were not restricting "us nor claiming money for driving on the main streets."
Admitting that it could be fatal for both him and his passenger, he said so many of them joined Dhaka streets recently after lax monitoring and absence of traffic police.
In May last, the authorities slapped a ban on battery-run rickshaws in Dhaka citing safety concerns. Subsequently auto-rickshaw drivers' protests prompted the former prime minister to intervene, allowing their continued operation until alternative livelihoods were found.
The "Bangla Teslas", despite their number surging every day, the authorities were slow to regulate the three-wheelers and develop safer designs. The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) does not register these vehicles. Furthermore, those vehicles also don't have any approved design.
However, these three-wheelers still remain banned on 22 highways and major Dhaka roads.
"They (drivers of the auto rickshaw) are now enjoying absolute freedom. They are driving the auto-rickshaws wherever they want," Prof Md. Hadiuzzaman, a road transport expert and civil engineering teacher of BUET, told the FE.
"It's like they, having installed batteries on pedal rickshaws, come to the road with no knowledge about road traffic in such a mega city like Dhaka," he added.
According to Khalequzzaman Lipon, convener of the Battery-run Easy-bike and Rickshaw Drivers' Movement Council, Dhaka city alone has about 1.3 million battery-run vehicles.
Sector insiders estimated that there were over four million battery-run auto-rickshaws, easy-bikes across the country, with six million people directly employed in the sector. Experts estimate that an additional 800,000 new battery-run easy-bikes hit the streets every year.
This unscientific and unsafe mode of transport must be taken out of the main streets. Such a huge number of vehicles is stretching Dhaka's road capacity and those unscientific vehicles contribute further to the city traffic jam, experts suggested.
Traders say battery-run auto-rickshaws have been imported from China since 2003-04. Those imported models offered some structural safety. But locally manufactured versions, which began appearing in 2010, often have poor technical standards.
"These vehicles don't have any technical specification. People can develop a design at a workshop and run it on the streets. It seems there is no regulation," Prof Hadiuzzaman added.
He also suggested approving a technically sound and scientific design before going for allowing registration. Otherwise, once they get BRTA registration before an approved design, it will never come under control.
He also observed that a huge number of auto rickshaws entered Dhaka recently amid the low presence of traffic police or lax monitoring, people concerned observed.
He also raised the issue of manpower for regulating such a huge number of vehicles. He suggested allowing a third party or agent to look into that scientific specification and then BRTA would give final approval.
Earlier talking to the FE, Prof Md Ziaur Rahman Khan of BUET said battery-run rickshaws were fundamentally unsafe. They are basically manual rickshaws with motors added. Their structure simply cannot handle the speeds they reach.
Khondaker Nazmul Hassan, additional commissioner (traffic) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, told the FE that they were trying their best to stop plying of auto-rickshaws on the main streets.
"We are trying our best with the manpower we have," he added.
He also said there had been a boom in battery-run auto-rickshaws.
"We daily seize these slow vehicles as they are not allowed on the main streets. But we need passengers' awareness about not using those battery-run rickshaws on main streets as they are highly unsafe and can cause fatal accidents," he added.
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