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High-speed battery-powered 3-wheelers city's traffic nightmare 

Published : Sunday, 3 November, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 198
Mamunur Rashid
 
The high-speed battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes are causing traffic disorder, road accidents on the mega city Dhaka. Drivers and passengers of other vehicles mainly private cars, as well as police officers  have reported increasing concerns about the disorder caused by these three-wheelers.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has given permission for battery-powered rickshaws and easy bikes to ply in Dhaka city on May 20 just 75 days before she left the country.  
These vehicles have been dominating the roads, contributing to traffic disarray with their erratic movements and use of wrong lanes.

Meanwhile, the interim government led by Chief  Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus has decided to ban both battery-operated and cycle rickshaws on Dhaka's main roads on September 17. 

Following meeting at the Chief Adviser office Khandaker Nazmul Hasan, Additional Commissioner (traffic) at the DMP, told media that the traffic situation had shown improvement following the deployment of more traffic police officers. 

He confirmed that both battery-run autorickshaws and cycle rickshaws were banned on the city's main roads, including VIP routes, though they would still be allowed to operate on local streets.

During a recent visit to areas like Mirpur, Dhanmondi, Shyamoli, Mohakhali, Bannai, Uttara and Badda, numerous battery-operated rickshaws and easy bikes were operating on every major road. These rickshaws often cut in front of faster vehicles and navigate turns unpredictably, causing confusion and increasing risks on the roads.

Mohammadpur resident Imrul Hossan told The Daily Observer on Friday that  the presence of battery-operated rickshaws on Dhaka's main roads is extremely dangerous.

Imrul described the situation as dangerous due to the absence of proper indicators on rickshaws, which makes it hard for other drivers to anticipate their movements.

"These rickshaws move at speeds of 30 to 35 kilometres per hour, causing other vehicles to slow down and contributing to traffic jams," he said.

However traffic police in Dhaka have launched drives against battery-run rickshaws in various parts of the city following the increased prevalence of three-wheelers on major roads. The drives against battery-run rickshaw has brought some relief to commuters, as the high-speed rickshaws have been causing accidents.

At least two people - Tania Khanam, 35 and one and half-year-old Mira Sarker - have been killed in last  month  after being hit by battery-operated rickshaws in the Shahbagh and Mirpur areas respectively. Several  others have been injured  in daily  being hit by battery-operated rickshaws. 

Traffic police were seen seizing battery operated rickshaws in several places including Ramna, Bangla Motor, Mirpur, and Dhanmondi.

The police personnel are either puncturing rickshaw tyres, keeping the drivers waiting for hours, or towing rickshaws for dumping.

A study carried out by the Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) in 2019 said Dhaka had over 11 lakh pedal rickshaws. Also, there were more than 2 lakh battery-run rickshaws in the city. However, since then, the number of battery-run rickshaws on major roads in the city have skyrocketed.

While police are taking steps against battery-run rickshaws, pedal rickshaws are still plying almost all city streets. Traffic police officials said they will take action against the pedal rickshaws too but that will be after they remove battery-run rickshaws.

The Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) does not register these vehicles. Furthermore, those vehicles also don't have any approved design.

According to Khalequzzaman Lipon, convener of the Battery-run Easy-bike and Rickshaw Drivers' Movement Council, Dhaka city alone has about 1.3 million battery-run vehicles.

Sector insiders estimated that there were over four million battery-run auto-rickshaws, easy-bikes across the country, with six million people directly employed in the sector. Experts estimate that an additional 800,000 new battery-run easy-bikes hit the streets every year.

This unscientific and unsafe mode of transport must be taken out of the main streets. Such a huge number of vehicles is stretching Dhaka's road capacity and those unscientific vehicles contribute further to the city traffic jam, experts suggested.

At that time, then-transport minister Obaidul Quader said, "No battery-operated vehicles should operate in Dhaka city. We have banned them on 22 highways." "It's not just about the ban, measures must be taken to ensure they cannot operate."



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