Traffic congestion returns on the city streets

The nagging traffic congestions on the city’s roads appeared to have returned to previous level as very few drivers were going by the lane system introduced by Dhaka Metropolitan Police to bring discipline on the streets.
Commuters blamed the law enforcing agencies for lack of monitoring whether the drivers were going by their designated lanes.
Most of the drivers, especially the bus drivers, continued to drive recklessly on the roads and were not going by the lane system while the traffic police overlooked the matter, they alleged.
‘Though the police have enforced automated signalling, they are still managing the traffic with manual direction at many intersections,’ said Bayzid Ahmed, an employee of a private company.
‘Rules should be obeyed by all but why the police are not taking action against the delinquent drivers violating the rules,’ he said.
But traffic police claimed they were strictly monitoring the vehicular movement and taking action against drivers breaking the traffic rules.
A high official of traffic police said they fined the drivers for driving vehicles straying out of the designated lanes or breaking traffic signals or picking up or dropping passengers at their whim. Some drivers were penalised for reckless driving on the roads.
A fine of Tk 1,000 has been fixed for violating traffic signal or suspension of driving licence for three months for the drivers violating the rules, he added.
Police said the main roads in the capital city would have three lanes: cars, jeeps and vehicles carrying VIPs would use the lane by the road divider; buses, mini-buses, covered vans and pick-ups would use middle lane; and motorbikes, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and human haulers would use the lane by the footpath.
According to Dhaka City Corporation, the total city road network spans about 2,290 kilometres — including roads, lanes and by-lanes. The main road network spans only 210km.
More than 4.7 lakh motorised vehicles such as cars, jeeps, microbuses, taxicabs, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, buses, minibuses, trucks and human haulers are registered with Bangladesh Road Transport Authority in Dhaka till 2008, according to BRTA statistics.
Of the vehicles, more than two lakh are cars, jeeps, microbuses and station wagons and more than 15,000 are public buses and minibuses.
The statistics also show about two lakh motorcycles, 27,000 trucks and 25,000 human haulers ply city roads.
More than five lakh illegal rickshaws are also on the roads, which contribute to traffic congestions, Dhaka City Corporation officials said.

Courtesy of NewAgebd