To reduce road accidents, the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has officially launched automated road crossing system for pedestrians in Dhaka’s Asad Avenue.
DNCC Atiqul Islam inaugurated the automated road crossing system on in front of St Francis Xavier's Green Herald International School near Mohammadpur Town Hall on Thursday (Oct 24).
Emphasizing on the need for safe roads, Mayor Atiqul said: “We want safe roads. We want safe city.”
“To achieve that dream, we have to work towards it. As per the suggestion of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the city corporation has adopted this project the push button time countdown signal, as drivers of many motorized vehicles do not follow rules to let pedestrians cross the roads through zebra crossing,” He added.
He also mentioned that the traffic control room will monitor the CCTV cameras installed in front of Green Herald School to identify those who break traffic rules, and whoever violates the traffic rules will be fined as per the law.
“We have a tendency to not follow the law. So, to ensure safety of pedestrians, this new technology has been introduced. We have to follow the road signals and rules of law. We must change our mind-set,” the mayor added.
It cost Tk 920,000 to install the automated road crossing system in two spots. However, there is a need for 48 automated road crossing system and zebra-crossing.
Primarily, the system will show green light for 25 seconds.
However, to slow-down the running vehicles’ speed, a gap of 127 second has been fixed.
If anyone presses the push button within the stipulated time, it will not work. After 127 second, the red light will stop the oncoming vehicles for the pedestrians to cross the road safely.
Another automated road crossing system is under installation process in front of BRAC University at Mohakhali, while 20 more are likely to be set up within this year.