Speakers at a meeting have underlined the need for addressing road safety issue through data-driven interventions in order to reduce road crashes.
Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS) and Vital Strategies jointly organised ‘Dissemination Meeting on Road Safety Situation Data in Dhaka North area’ held DNCC meeting room on Thursday.
Brig Gen. Md Moin Uddin, cheif engineer at DNCC; spoke at the event as the chief guest, while Engineer Khondoker Mahbub Alam, superintendent engineer (civil), TEC at DNCC; spoke as special guest.
The programme was moderated by Md. Abdul Wadud, Initiative Coordinator of BIGRS, Dhaka. Sufian Ahmed, joint commissioner (Traffic-North) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP); Aminul Islam Sujon, technical adviser at Vital Strategies; and Engineer Rezaur Rahman, transport coordinator of BIGRS-Dhaka’ also spoke at the event.
Dr. Tanvir Ibn Ali, surveillance coordinator of BIGRS-Dhaka; presented the findings based on the analysis of police data.
He emphasized the importance of ensuring the safety of vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and motorcyclists through a coordinated implementation of road safety measures, especially enforcement and infrastructure changes across the high-risk locations.
In his speech, Brig Gen. Md Moin Uddin said that DNCC is working to ensure pedestrian-friendly road infrastructures in its jurisdiction. DNCC is also working to renovate road crossings, intersections, and u-loop (U-turn) safer for all road users.
He also said that with the technical support from BIGRS partner Vital Strategies, DNCC is making progress through identifying road-crash spots, engaging journalists and media and installing speed-limiting measures. “We are also planning to organize a awareness campaign in the coming days,” he added.
Md. Abdul Wadud said that it is necessary to make the road users aware of the safer road use. That is why effective communication and awareness campaigns will be helpful to educate, aware and sensitize road users to avoid dangerous moves on the road, such as speeding, he added.
Sufian Ahmed stated that the DMP has been working to make Dhaka's roads safer in accordance with the enforcement capacity that have been granted to the police under the Road Transport Act 2018 and Road Transport Rules 2022. He said that if drivers and road users adhere to the laws, achieving road safety will be a reality.
Aminul Islam Sujon said that death are not just numbers, it is a lifelong suffering of those lost their loved ones. He stressed comprehensive mass media campaigns to reduce road traffic fatalities.
The meeting brought together key engineers, urban planners, officials, enforcement officials, health officials from the government, national and international organizations. Officials from Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) traffic Dhaka North zones, and Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority (DTCA) attended. BIGRS Enforcement Coordinator Golam Hossain, was present at the event.
