The government had stepped up the traffic rules a few notches last year in the face of the mass student movement triggered by two college students being run over by a bus in July. The then prime minister’s office itself had directed the concerned organizations to implement several directives and the issue of road safety was under surveillance every day, but the as soon as the situation cooled down, things went back to the way they always were.
On July 29 of last year, two college students were run over in the capital by a bus. The situation led to a mass uprising of the students with road blockades that stretched for days. Following the protest, the two Dhaka City Corporations, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP), Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BTRC) were called into the prime minister’s office in a meeting on Aug 16 with Principal Secretary Md Nazibur Rahman in the chair.
The meeting addressed the traffic-related issues and came to an agreement on how to upgrade the traffic system as well as bring order to the public transport sector. The organizations were ordered to carry out the terms of the agreement by Oct 20.
Among the decisions were:

• Keep the doors of the public transport shut while it's on the move.
• Do not pick up or drop off passengers without specific stoppage.
• Display the driver and helper’s bio inside the transport
• Protective helmets to be made mandatory for motorcycle riders.
• Seat-belts to be made compulsory for drivers and passengers
• Start operating automated remote control traffic signals
• Taking action against illegal vehicles, including ones without fitness and drivers without a license
• Destruction of vehicles without route-permit and fitness
• Speeding up the licence process

However, the organizations are yet to implement any of those directives fully.
The two city corporations were supposed to carry out the directive for the automated traffic signals, bus stoppage and use of underpasses. They claim that they have realized 95 percent of those directives and the remaining 5 percent was underway.
“We are working as per the PMO’s orders,” Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) Supervising Engineer Anisur Rahman told Bangla Tribune.
“We have already repaired the automated remote control traffic signals and handed them over to the traffic police,” said Dhaka North City Corporation Panel Mayor Jamal Mostafa.
He added that their traffic management circle was coordinating with the police and that the rest of the work will be done soon.
The field survey revealed that there are approximately 130 bus stoppage markers in the two city corporation areas. Arrangements have been made for the passengers to sit under shades that are both useful and pleasing to the eye.
However, the buses do not make pickups or drop offs at those stops. Neither do they display the staff bio and registration numbers in larger fonts. But state-owned transports such as BRTC busses followed through on those instructions.
“If our staff violate the rules, there are consequences,” said BRTC Secretary Nur-e-Alam.
Bangladesh Road Transport Owners Association Secretary General Khandaker Enayet Ullah told Bangla Tribune that the owners have been made aware of the PMO’s instructions and that a vigilance tram was taking actions against the rule breakers.
“There are many difficulties in the process but we are trying but there have been improvements and the drivers are more aware now,” he said.
Although BTRC started working on these issues, vehicles without fitness are still running rampant throughout the city. The action was taken against them during the road safety movement but since then, the process has gone cold.
In many places in the city, people don’t use zebra crossings and many a time the vehicles have been seen to stop on the crossings. Despite the remote control signals, police are seen controlling the traffic manually.
DSCC Urban Planner Sirajul Islam told Bangla Tribune that most of the remote controls have been handed over and only a few are left.
On the other hand, DMP Joint Commissioner (traffic-South) Md Mofiz Uddin Ahmed told Bangla Tribune, “We are using the automated traffic signals on an experimental basis but due to many technical glitches, we haven’t been able to use it to the fullest.”
He added that DSCC has been informed of the issue.
Responding to queries on the matter, the PM’s Governance Innovation unit Deputy Director, Mohammad Ali said that they have held a few coordination meetings in Dhaka and nearby districts.
“We will hold more of these meetings in the future. The directives that we agreed upon have not yet been fully implemented but they are underway.
He attributed the delay to the general election, saying that initiatives were in full swing to implement them.