Speakers at a youth rally on Friday emphasised the need for walkable and bicycle-friendly roads and infrastructure to combat daily traffic congestion and reduce the loss of working hours in the capital.
The rally was held on Friday at 8:30 am on the main road to the south of the Parliament Building (Asad Gate-Khamarbari intersection) on Manik Mia Avenue in the capital to mark the celebration of World Road Safety Week-2025.
Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), Dhaka Ahsania Mission and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society organized the rally.
BRTA Road Safety Director Shitangshu Shekhar Biswas, Deputy Director Md. Nazmul Haque, Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector Deputy Director Md. Mokhlesur Rahman, Muntasir Mahmud, Deputy Director of Youth and Volunteers Department of Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Sharmin Rahman, Road Safety Project Coordinator of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Health Sector and Shariful Islam, the coordinator of the tobacco control project, as well as officials at various levels of BRTA, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society attended the event.
Besides, about two hundred young people and students from various youth groups and educational institutions were present.
Speakers said that daily working hours are reducing due to traffic congestion on the roads. In this case, walking and cycling can be a good solution. This requires safe road infrastructure that is pedestrian and bicycle-friendly, and of course, the formulation and implementation of the 'Road Safety Act'.
The speakers also said that walking and cycling habits should be developed to maintain good health and the environment and reduce road crashes.
The young members raised the demand for the enactment of a road safety law and handed over a memorandum to BRTA Director Shitangshu Shekhar Biswas led by S. Z. Apu, a member of Ahsania Mission Youth Forum for Health and Wellbeing, and Md. Raihan Rahman, convener of the Youth Committee of the National Headquarters of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society.
