Working together for road traffic safety in Dhaka

Challenges

How can we change people’s attitudes and increase their interest in road traffic safety?

In the Dhaka metropolitan area of Bangladesh, the number of registered vehicles has increased five-fold from approximately 200,000 in 2013 to 1,000,000 in 2018, due to economic growth and population increase. Consequently, issues such as road traffic congestion and crashes have become severe.

Under these circumstances, the government of Bangladesh has formulated the “National Road Traffic Safety Strategy Action Plan” nine times since 1997 as a strategic plan for national road traffic safety, and has been promoting road safety initiatives across ministries and agencies.

As the 8th Action Plan, which covers the period of 2018-2020, failed to achieve its goal of halving the number of traffic incidents, the 9th Action Plan, which covers the period 2021-2024, aims to reduce the number of traffic incidents by 20-25% by 2024 and to achieve a 50% reduction by 2030.

In order to achieve these goals, measures should be taken in the Dhaka Metropolitan Area, where traffic volume and crashes are particularly high in Bangladesh: immediate action is needed.

The metropolitan police (government counterpart) has carried out traffic incident data collection, traffic regulations, and drivers’ education. However, insufficient data on vehicle crashes hinder proper analysis, appropriate enforcement and traffic safety education based on traffic analysis.

OC Global has provided comprehensive technical cooperation that aims to enhance the capabilities of traffic safety education and awareness, strengthen the capacity for traffic incident data collection and analysis, and improve planning and implementation capabilities for traffic safety in the Dhaka metropolitan area.

Two and a half years of the four-year project have been completed. The following two activities have been successfully implemented.

1. Poster and Slogan Contest on Road Safety

The poster and slogan contest aims to raise awareness among students, empowering them as responsible road users and safety ambassadors in collaboration with local schools, incorporating common practices of Japan. Elementary school students participated in the poster contest and 170 posters were submitted, while college students participated the slogan contest with 410 slogans received. An awards ceremony was also held. Audiences were delighted to congratulate the winners on their creative works. The awardees received the certificate along with a gift.