Put an end to traffic woes

We are concerned to learn that the Dhaka North City Corporation's move in February to demarcate separate lanes for rickshaws has done nothing to improve traffic congestion on the busy Mayor Annisul Huq Road in the capital. Trucks continue to be parked unlawfully on the road, damaging the dividers that the DNCC had installed, according to a report by the daily. This is just another example of the authorities' inability to ensure compliance from transport associations, the results of which have been narrower roads, unused rickshaw lanes, and a worse gridlock condition for office-goers, students and ambulances carrying critical patients, among other problems. This is totally unacceptable.

The Mayor Annisul Huq Road is a crucial one for city dwellers as it connects Tejgaon, Farmgate and Karwan Bazar with Mohakhali and Banani-Gulshan-Niketon. Furthermore, it stands as an embodiment of the late mayor's fight to reduce traffic congestion by staving off encroachment attempts and opposition from truck associations. But its current state is reversing his efforts to alleviate traffic woes, subjecting thousands of commuters to misery every day. Students and office-goers are reportedly often late to school and work, rickshaw pullers are earning less due to traffic jams, and people with medical emergencies are risking their lives. Trucks occupying a vital part of the space illegally is causing all sorts of troubles, and worryingly still, the DNCC is doing nothing about it.

The fact is, we cannot expect a respite from this reality until the government starts enforcing traffic rules and stops giving in to pressure from transport associations. We have seen the latter frequently exert pressure to shape policies, such as when they did after the Road Transport and Highways Division (RTHD) in May issued a directive limiting the economic life of vehicles (20 years for buses, and 25 years for trucks and lorries). It took just a little over two months for the RTHD to backtrack on that directive, meaning that unfit vehicles can now operate legally. It goes without saying that this will only further endanger our safety on roads. It is because of such undue concessions, legal or on the ground, that this sector continues to be in such a pitiful state.

Against this background, experts believe that the priority is to establish order in this chaotic sector rather than taking unplanned, half-hearted measures such as building a separate rickshaw lane on the Mayor Annisul Huq Road. The authorities must first ensure compliance from transport associations and prevent illegal parking. They can also build alternative parking spaces for trucks.