IGNORING traffic rules and the High Court directives, motorcyclists in Dhaka city ride their bikes on the pavements, endangering the lives of the pedestrians. Pedestrians never know when they will be dashed to the ground by a speeding motorcycle coming from the wrong side. In spite of cautiousness while walking on the footpaths they become the victims of accident as the two-wheelers are less bothered about their safety. This has been vividly reflected in a photo caption published in a national daily on Thursday, showing how helpless the pedestrians are even in an important busy footpath of Nazrul Islam Avenue near Karwan Bazar in the capital.
We know that pavements and walkways are always meant for pedestrians’ use only. And according to a statistics, almost three out of five persons on the street are pedestrians. To accommodate them, there are only 163 kilometres of footpaths in the city compared with 2,290 kilometres stretch of roads for vehicles. But pedestrians have been sufferings from various nuisances for a long time as significant portions of the pavements are being used as extensions for shops, parking lots and construction sites, besides being turned to dustbins with garbage regularly heaped on them. In addition, shop owners are placing their generators and other things on the footpaths as if they own the place and consider pedestrian’s movement as a trespass.
It is to be noted that the High Court in February 26 and March 5, 2012 issued two directives in response to two separate writ petitions filed as public interest litigation seeking directives upon the government to ensure free movement of people and safe operation of vehicles in the city. The court asked the government to take measures to ensure that motorcycles and other vehicles do not encroach on footpaths and walkways in the capital. But the order has clearly fallen on deaf ears. On the other hand, the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has, of late, also prohibited plying of motorcycles on the footpaths last year with an aim to ensure public safety. But the ban appears to have failed as the motorcyclists frequently ride on the footpaths to avoid tailbacks in roads.
Defying traffic rules, many motorcyclists, particularly the young people, ride their bikes with two to three persons without wearing any helmets. Many of the riders are also found carrying family members and children on the backside of their bike, endangering their safety at every moment. As reported, many pedestrians as well as the riders themselves lose their lives almost everyday as there were 400 fatal vehicle-pedestrian collisions in the capital in 2012, which translates into one collision every 25 hours. According to official statistics, a total of 949,047 motorcycles have taken registration from the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA).
The higher authorities must stand beside the members of the law enforcers and traffic personnel in the streets to strictly enforce DMP rules. It is a common sight that overcrowded buses stop in busy intersections to download and take passengers in those places. This intensifies gridlocks as well as exposing the passengers who running after those buses to serious hazards. So, the law that protects pedestrians’ right to ‘safe footpaths and walkways must be enforced.
