Dhaka’s reckless motorcyclists galore

Dhaka's road security has become virtually hostage to roaming reckless motorcyclists. On any given day and time, except the wee hours, these bikers keep breaking the law indiscriminately. They seem to commute from right to wrong, from all directions posing a huge threat to safe travelling. Most ominously, even the feeble traffic sergeants have given up hope in controlling them in many parts of the city.

The dangerous two-wheeler bikers appear to violate traffic law with almost impunity. Just last Saturday a commuter was seriously injured while a bike hit him coming from the wrong lane near the press club roundabout. And the frequency of these hits has reached alarming levels. First of all, we don't have a separate rule book or lanes for controlling motorcyclists. And second, concerned authorities have visibly failed to control their outrageous numbers in sales - like all transport vehicles in Bangladesh.

I have been a peripatetic commuter most of the time since my adolescence - and still prefer to walk back home mainly for two reasons - my regular workout and to save time. Being at my early 40's even this fitness-freak finds it difficult to walk on Dhaka roads, let alone the general public. However, the increasing number of reckless motorcyclists is the biggest woe in town at the moment since there is actually none to control the unrestrained bikers. Trucks, buses or Lorries are possible to control mainly because of their size and limited numbers, but the bikes have gone beyond control.

I had repeatedly penned on Dhaka's frenzied traffic situation in different writing formats in the last six years; however, in trueness, little is being done to address it. None would have been much happier than this writer - had one of our major political parties made it a pledge to solve the all pervading traffic jams in the country.

You have the freedom to differ, but similar to the once collapsing electricity issue, the traffic will become a similar one, when it could only be managed at a higher cost. Indicating at the apprehensive future, the government will be forced to strengthen and overhaul the country's traffic system - by then it will be too late.

According to statistics provided by the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA), the number of registered motorcycles increased to 469,888 in April 2018 from 210,081 in 2010. Urban and transport experts had voiced their fear of a possible organised chaos due to excessive number of bikes long ago , but their concerns had only fallen to deaf ears.

They seem to be abruptly speeding, braking while seeking shortcuts dangerously towards one's direction from almost anywhere, given the empty space is available. On top of that, most bikers being anywhere between the age of 15 to 40 are younger and brash. Also given the new-fangled bike services introduced in the country, their popularity and operational areas have been increasing but with increasing accidents. Though the ridesharing companies claim that their motorcycle services are getting good response in the city, service recipients accused them of being too commercial and providing substandard services.

Other than using the clichéd term high-time, it's perhaps the only time left to assume full control of our out-of-control bikers operating dangerously at our cities.

Coming back to our irresponsible motorcyclists, if we fail to control their unruly nature of driving and alarmingly higher numbers right from now, it will become impossible to manage them. Just last Tuesday when I was compelled to ask a biker why he chose to use the footpath in front of Bangla Academy or the former Burdwan House he brazenly replied, "What to do when the main road was too squeezed for the construction of the metro rail system". He actually made an imperative point even though breaking the traffic law.

It has been a big problem while materialising our mega communication projects - bypass options are hardly introduced. It will be idiotic, to think that once the metro rail is introduced that jams will reduce on our roads. In fact, more people will be encouraged to own private vehicles. Sales of motorbikes will continue to shoot up too.

Food for your thought, the Kolkata Metro came into operation in 1984 , and provided all goes well , we will have it in a couple of years time in 2021. Not before. Carrying over 700,000 passengers, the Kolkata Metro is the second busiest metro system in India. Even if our metro carries a million passengers daily, the need for taxi, buses and bikes will keep increasing since we are repeatedly failing to control the overall volume of new immigrants and passengers in Dhaka.

Whatsoever, Faulty traffic signalling systems, inadequate manpower, narrow road spaces and overtaking tendency of drivers have been creating  pro-longed traffic congestions in Dhaka. Many thousands of rowdy motorcyclists' continue to add just a little more salt to that injury. Other than adding up to the existing traffic-bottlenecks they impudently break free of them by making safe commuting much riskier and unsafe for the public.

This piece was intended to serve as a wakeup call for the authorities concerned, and I believe the message has been delivered. We have far too many killing machines at our roads and don't expect to see more tiny ones adding up every day. The sheer thrill of Dhaka's free-spirited speeding bikes, until the fear of death has been overcome, has resulted in unimaginable woes. It's time we put an end to that perilous thrill.

The writer is the editor-in-charge of the editorial section,
The Daily Observer