Rural Road Safety Awareness Campaign: Practice changes among students in using roads

Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP) of Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) has undertaken a campaign to make students aware of using roads to reduce road fatalities.

Education on road safety is crucial for all as road accidents have become severe in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the most accident-prone countries in the world where 60 percent of road accidents victims are pedestrians. Lack of awareness from the pedestrians' side in using roads is one of the major causes of accidents.

The 5 E's are vital for road safety – Engineering, Enforcement, Education, Encouragement and Evaluation. Moreover, safe roads for commenters, safe vehicles, and safe speed management are also addressed as major aspects for ensuring public safety. Under the purview of Local Government Engineering Department's (LGED) mandate, 2 E's, i.e. engineering and education, are largely related with road safety.  

The campaign focuses on school students along with teachers, parents, members of school management committees, and local dignitaries. By this time, the campaign has been implemented in 4 schools located at Kahaloo Upazila of Bogura, Bijoynagar Upazila of Brahmanbaria, Chandanaish Upazila of Chattogram, and Sadar Upazila of Madaripur district. More than 1,000 students, teachers, parents, and members of school management committees attended the road safety awareness campaign.

"We learned traffic rules that will help to stay safe while walking on roads. We learned to look right then left and right again and if there is no vehicle near, we can cross the road quickly," said Habiba Khatun, a student of class nine at Aghore Maloncha High School, Kahaloo upazila, Bogura.

Monami Akther, a student of class five of Satirpara GPS, Bijoynagar upazila, Brahmanbaria district said, "I was not aware of traffic rules; now, I'm quite knowledgeable."

"Following the campaign, I witnessed changes among students to follow traffic rules while walking on roads," said Habibur Rahman Bhuyan, Head Teacher of Satirpara Government Primary School.

The campaign started in October 2022 and will continue till June 2024. LGED has prioritised road safety issues to incorporate engineering measures in road design and simultaneously implementing rural road safety awareness campaign to raise awareness among road users. It is supported by the Government of Bangladesh and Asian Development Bank.

After the campaign, 90 percent of students were able to recall messages successfully.

Around 18 key messages were disseminated during the campaign, including following traffic signs, rules of walking on the roads, walking in line, not playing on the roads, using helmets while riding bicycle, rules of crossing roads, different traffic signs, not racing on the roads, not running suddenly on roads, wearing bright dress while walking on roads in night, not using the phone while walking on roads.

The messages were developed in a simple manner with illustrations for better communication and circulating through festoons, flyers, and video shows. At the end of the campaign, participants took an oath to comply with road safety rules.

The writer is Project Director, Rural Connectivity Improvement Project (RCIP) of the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED).