News Desk :
Najifa Farhat, a Dhaka-based young journalist, has been cycling on a daily basis for more than five years. She rides her bike to work every day, but she is growing increasingly nervous about being involved in an accident.
“I’m fearful of cycling on the busy roads. The residents of this city do not adhere to any rules. If I try to stay safe, others won’t let me. The majority of vehicles attempt to overtake me,” she said, reports bdnews24.com
“Motorcycles and bicycles, both are two-wheeled vehicles. So, both groups usually use the same section of the road, but when you compare their speed, you’ll see that we’re always putting our lives at risk,” she said, adding that there is no proper bicycle lane in this city, which is “unfortunate”.
Najifa isn’t the only one in this city who is suffering. Thousands of users like her are cycling at their own risk in Bangladesh, particularly in Dhaka, with no attention of the authorities despite the environmental and health benefits of cycling.
They are unsure whether they will be able to return home safely as Bangladesh and other countries observe World Bicycle Day on Friday. The day was chosen by the United Nations in April 2018 to commemorate “the bicycle’s uniqueness, longevity, and versatility”.
A total of 10,504 road crashes occurred in Bangladesh between 2018 and 2020, with 11,931 fatalities. These included 259 involving bicycles, with 267 fatalities, according to the Accident Research Institute at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
In addition, 750 crashes occurred in the past three years in Dhaka city alone, with 779 fatalities. Bicycle crashes accounted for 14 of these accidents, with 13 fatalities.
“Initially, it may seem that the bicycle crash rate is insignificant. But this figure cannot be overlooked at all because the actual picture is bigger than this,” said SM Sohel Mahmud, an associate professor at BUET.
“In fact, we don’t have a precise study on the percentage of bicycle users because bicycles aren’t required to be registered. So, we have no clue about the bicycle traffic composition. Bicycle accidents are rarely reported. It is published when someone dies in a bicycle crash.
“However, for the sake of our environment, we must promote cycling as soon as possible. In such a case, we should start with campus areas, residential areas, and rickshaw lanes. Our land is ideal for cycling but it’s sad that we are not taking this advantage,” he said.
Prof Hadiuzzaman, director of the Accident Research Institute, said: “Separate lanes for bicycles and motorcycles were never given any thought. The active mode [walking and cycling] of transport was never a significant factor.”
According to him, the distance from one place to another is not so significant in Dhaka, with 30 percent commuters travelling between 2 km and 2.5 km. “For them, nothing can be greater than cycling.”
“It is difficult to create bicycle lanes now as we have a vast number of vehicles which is four to five times bigger than the capacity of the roads,” Hadiuzzaman said.
The capital has bicycle lanes built by the Dhaka North City Corporation in two places. One is located in Agargaon, while the other is on Manik Miah Avenue. However, none of these are of much use to the cyclists.
“They exist just on documents; in reality, they do not serve cyclists at all,” said Fuad Ahsan Chowdhury, a spokesperson for BDCyclists, a platform for cyclists.
“The cycle lane in Agargaon is still incomplete, and the cycle lane on Manik Miah Avenue was maintained for a week only,” he said. “Our entire transportation system is to blame for this chaotic mess.”
“We had created two lovely lanes earlier but hadn’t separated them by creating a road divider. We just coloured them, as does every country. People park cars on the lanes now. Here, we can only raise awareness, but we can’t do policing,” said Mayor Atiqul Islam.
He revealed a plan to construct a 29-kilometre cycling lane and walkway along canals. The Bangladesh Army started working on the project on Mar 6. It is expected to end in four years.
“A canal was 100 feet wide, but it is now just 10 feet. So, it’s now difficult for us to widen this canal again, and continuing eviction is another hurdle,” Atiqul said, adding that the canals would not have been easily grabbed had there been walkways and a bicycle lane.
