DCC, traffic police trade blames over failure of automated signals
Shawkat Ali Khan New Age 23/11/09
The Dhaka City Corporation and the Dhaka Metropolitan Police traffic wing traded blames as the automated traffic signalling system, put to a dry run, failed to manage the chaotic traffic in the capital on the first day of the week-long trial on Sunday. 
Chaos on the roads began as soon as office hours started and it continued all day long, causing immense sufferings to the people. City roads from end to end were filled with vehicles, none of them moving.
The traffic policemen shut down the automated signals at about 11:00am and controlled the vehicles manually, traffic wing officials said.
A senior police official of the traffic wing said they were compelled to shut the system as the flow of vehicles grew unmanageable.
The corporation has digital signals at 59 points, installed under the World Bank-funded Dhaka Urban Transport Project in 2004. The automated signalling system had been in use for a few days after its installation, but it soon dropped out of use as the system started malfunctioning at many points.
The traffic wing of the police said the city corporation had set the timing for the signals which caused long queues of vehicles in every road crossing.
City corporation officials, however, said they were responsible for the monitoring of the signal light switches and the traffic wing of the police had set the timing.
The acting deputy commissioner of traffic (north) Bidhan Tripura said, 'The city corporation has a traffic department for signal light maintenance, but it hardly looks after the system.'
'At least 10 signals in my area have for long been out of order. I have informed the authorities concerned of the matter, but they are yet to do anything,' he said.
'If the city corporation does not want to take the responsibility, the corporation should let us run the system,' he said.
A city corporation official said they were responsible only to monitor whether the lights were functional and the traffic department set the timing.
Asked about signals in many points being out of order, the city corporation official said, 'It is our failure that we could not ensure the smooth functioning of the machine.'
Bidhan Tripura said the city corporation had set green light for 120 seconds in major crossings which could not control vehicle traffic during office hours. 'We allow vehicles to pass by against red signals to minimise the sufferings of the people.'
An assistant commissioner of police (traffic wing) said the corporation had installed the system and it maintained everything. 'If the entire system is left with us, we can set the timing based on traffic movement.'
The traffic police on Sunday monitored traffic flow in 12 major crossings: Sonargaon Hotel, Sheraton Hotel, Shahbagh, Mohakhali, Kakoli, Kakrail, Farmgate, Manik Mia Avenue, Gulshan, Baridhara, Gulistan and Jatrabari.
A city corporation engineer, however, blamed lack of coordination between the corporation and the traffic wing of the police for the failure.
Before the introduction of the system, both the groups should first have discussed the matter as a number of digital signals are out of order, he said.
People said they had suffered a lot as the vehicles got stuck at many points. 'I had been stuck in the Farmgate crossing for 45 minutes,' said Parvez Ahmed, who caught the bus from Khamar Bari to Gulistan at 1:41pm by his watch. The bus crossed the signal at 2:23pm.
Vehicles got stranded from end to end on thoroughfares such as Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, Minto Road, Tajuddin Ahmed Sarani, Shaheed Sangbadik Selina Parveen Road, Airport Road, Mirpur Road and Elephant Road.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police at a briefing on Saturday announced to put in operation the automated traffic signalling system to ease congestion. It said it would also run awareness campaign among drivers and pedestrians till December 7.
The DMP commissioner, Shahidul Hoque, at the briefing said traffic policemen would start fining vehicles for traffic rules from December 8.
The police chief said most of the main roads in the capital city would have three lanes: cars, jeeps and vehicles carrying VIPs would use the lane by the road divider, buses, mini-buses, covered vans and pick-ups would use middle lane, and motorbikes, CNG-run auto-rickshaws and human haulers would use the lane by the footpath.
According to the Dhaka City Corporation, the total city road network spans about 2,290 kilometres - including roads, lanes and by-lanes. The main road network spans only 210km.
More than 4.7 lakh motorised vehicles such as cars, jeeps, microbuses, taxicabs, CNG-run auto-rickshaws, buses, minibuses, trucks and human haulers are registered with the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority in Dhaka till 2008, according to BRTA statistics.
Of the vehicles, more than two lakh are cars, jeeps, microbuses and station wagons and more than 15,000 are public buses and minibuses.
The statistics also show about two lakh motorcycles, 27,000 trucks and 25,000 human haulers ply city roads.
More than five lakh illegal rickshaws are also on the roads, which add to traffic congestion, Dhaka City Corporation officials said.
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