ICT's and improving road safety in
Bangladesh
Information and communication technologies not improved
highly road safety in Bangladesh also not widely spreading. Information and
Communications Technologies (ICT) education is basically our society’s efforts
to teach its current and rising citizen’s valuable knowledge and skills around
computing and communications devices, software that operates them, applications
that run on them and systems that are built with them. Examples like- How do
they work? How do you use them productively? How are they deployed, assembled,
managed and maintained to create productive systems? ICT is complex and quickly
changing, and it is confusing for many people. It is so persistent in the
modern world that everyone has some understanding of it, but those understandings
are often wildly conflicting.
Bangladesh has one of the highest accident rates in the
world, with over 4,000 people dying on the country's roads each year and the
accidents cause a loss of about 2% of GDP in Bangladesh. More than 4,000 people
die on Bangladesh's roads every year. The country has one of the highest rates
in the world, with more than 85 deaths for every 10,000 registered motor
vehicles. That's around 50 times higher than the rate in most western
countries. Road accidents kill and injure people who are young and productive,
and therefore have a hidden development impact. Bangladesh is trying to
modernize its road network, but population and commerce continue to outpace
transport infrastructure, turning roads – devoid of proper safety measures –
into death traps. In order to improve the road safety situation as well as to
minimize the recurrent losses of valuable lives and properties, several
initiatives have been taken by the various government, non-government and donor
agencies in Bangladesh in the form of policy implementation, institutional
development, geometric improvement of roads, sanction of legislation and
enforcement, capacity building of professionals and academician and awareness
development of mass people.
Major road safety initiative taken by Bangladesh:
ü
Adoption
of National Land Transport Policy (NLTP)
ü
Preparation
of Safety Manual, Hand Book and Guidelines
ü
Establishment
of National Road Safety Council (NRSC)
ü
Establishment
of Road Safety Cell and District Road Safety Committee
ü
Establishment
of Accident Research Institute (ARI) at BUET
ü
Development
of Road Safety Unit at RHD and LGED
ü
Establishment
of Highway Police
ü
Formation
of Road Safety Voluntary & Advisory Group
ü
Approval
of Speed Limit Zoning and Speed Restriction Rules
ü
Preparation
of National Road Safety Strategic Action Plans
ü
Development
of Accident Database
ü
Training
of Road Safety Professionals
ü
Safety
Awareness and Training
ü
Implementation
of Road Safety Audit
ü
NGO
Initiatives towards Road Safety
ü
Establishment
of International/Regional Cooperation Regarding Road Safety
ü
Progress
in Road Safety Research in Bangladesh
Our Country needs to adopt the internationally accepted
systemic approach to road safety, taking into consideration vehicles, roads and
road users. At the invitation of the ministry of communications, the International
Road Assessment Program (IRAP) last year carried out assessments on the
Dhaka-Sylhet and the Dhaka-Mymensingh highways, identifying design and
maintenance flaws that are contributing to the growing toll of death and
disability. In recognition of the burden road accidents place on developing
economies, the UN declared 2011-20 the decade of action for road safety.
Experts say policymakers in countries such as Bangladesh must stop thinking of
road safety as a mere transport issue and recognize it as a public health and
sustainable development problem. Bangladesh is moving slowly up in ICT
advancement, ranking 113th in the "networked readiness index" this
year among 142 countries. Khondaker Golam Moazzem, senior research fellow of
the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), said some countries were included on the
list recently, but Bangladesh has consolidated its position over the years. The
private sector of the country has played a big role, he said- though Bangladesh
has improved gradually in the last three years, it still lags behind the
low-income countries of its stature. He also said the overall ICT environment
in Bangladesh is good but the regulatory regimes are weak. Political commitment
of the government to build an ICT-based society is good, but still there are
deficiencies in the regulatory framework and infrastructure development to
implement the vision of a Digital Bangladesh. ADB arranged several trainings
are designed to achieve the intended outcome through advisory support,
on-the-job training, and knowledge transfer to RHD and BRTA staff by a team of
experts with international and national qualifications, and through specific,
time-bound, and measurable outputs, including (i) road safety diagnosis, (ii)
road safety programs on selected high-risk corridors, (iii) strengthening of
the road safety management capacity of RHD and BRTA, (iv) development of road
safety policies and business procedures to incorporate road safety into the
lifecycle of roads, (v) sustainable funding arrangements for road safety, (vi)
nationwide road safety improvement programs, and (vii) a draft DMF for a
subsequent standalone road safety investment project. Needs improvement in
several places, in below given suggestions-
- Driving license will be given after proper exam taken
- Monitoring level and authority needs highly observing phenomena
- Future planning roads will make wider
- Closed circuit camera mentioned in vulnerable places
- Improvement of trafficking system
- Injured peoples can be admitted any hospital & provide immediate treatment then many lives can safe.
- Road safety advocacy, training program for driver, road safety engineering facilities, accident victims support needs for improvement
- Fitness checking of vehicles most important in our country
- Identify BRTA’s huge corruptions
- Drugs availability another reasons of road accidents
- Development of road safety unit
- Procurement & safety equipments and logistics
- Professional Capacity and Expertise increased
- Strong Political Support and Commitment
- Mobilizing resources for road safety and cooperating on road safety measures with nongovernmental organizations, local communities, and the private sector
- Promoting safe approaches to the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of road infrastructure
- creating public awareness of road safety
A safe system approach to road
safety offers a holistic view of road transport systems, and considers
interactions between several elements. These include road infrastructure, road
users, vehicles, and speed. This approach requires that road infrastructure is
improved and properly maintained to reduce the risk of crashes and the severity
of impacts when crashes occur. It also calls for vehicle safety technologies to
reduce the number of crashes and lessen their impact on road users. Only government
can do massive change in road safety precaution in our country because this
sector needs improvement for our growing economy. If we want our next
generation can live with comfort in the earth then now the time starting work
for our future.
References
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