M M Hoque

Fatalities of Heterogeneous Street Traffic

A unique feature of large South Asian cities is the composition of their urban street traffic. Because many different traffic entities of varying size continuously interact on the street, the traffic mixture is heterogeneous. Heterogeneous traffic increases street capacity. Homogeneous traffic prevails in most North American, European, and Australian cities. Two broad categories comprise heterogeneous traffic: namely, motorized vehicles and nonmotorized entities. After collecting geometric, composition, speed, and conflict data at 14 midblock sites, heterogeneous traffic was examined at a microscopic level. The best model shows that the high-fatality midblock sites correlate to unidirectional street widths at a +0.89 correlation coefficient. The degree of heterogeneity and motorized traffic flow had the strongest relationship with street width at a +0.99 correlation coefficient. Given constant motor vehicle flow, the analyses revealed that when the traffic heterogeneity index approached 1 (i.e., 50 percent motorized and 50 percent nonmotorized), fewer midblock fatalities occurred.

852 Emerging safety challenges of motorcycles on Bangladesh roads

Background Motorcycles are becoming an increasingly popular mode of travel in Bangladesh. There are around 1.3 million registered motorcycles in Bangladesh, representing nearly 55% of total registered motor vehicles. Motorcycles are increasing at an astonishing rate, around 95% during 2009–2015 with fleet growing at a faster rate than other vehicles. Motorcycle crashes are a growing problem resulting from massive increase of motorcycles. Methods To assess the risk factors of motorised two wheelers in Bangladesh, police reported crash data were analysed and International Road Assessment Program (iRAP) methodologies were applied in assessing road environment hazards associated with motorcyclists together with field observation of motorcycle travel behaviour. Results Motorcycle crashes are claiming over 200 deaths annually and nearly 70% occurred in rural areas, mostly attributable to effects of speeding. Predominant crash types are head-on, hit-pedestrian and rear-end, which together account for nearly 86%. Recent iRAP assessment revealed that national highways are mostly 2-star or less for motorcyclists indicating a relatively high level of risks of deaths and injuries. Major risk factors are mostly related to road infrastructure and environmental deficiencies and unsatisfactory driver behaviour and law enforcement. Conclusions Sustained and accelerated reduction in road fatalities involving pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists is clearly a priority, particularly for achieving the target of 50% reduction of deaths by 2020 in Bangladesh. Road fatalities involving motorcycles are unacceptably high. Addressing the safety of motorcycles and the riders is therefore an enormous challenge to transport engineering professionals. It is urgent to conduct in depth research and to develop pragmatic strategies and actions with particular emphasis for wider application of road engineering and environment measures for preventing motorcycle crashes and injuries.

292 Saving pedestrian lives in Bangladesh: a successful pilot to prevent road injuries

Background Around 90% of the world’s road traffic deaths occur in low and middle income countries (LMIC). Bangladesh has over 100 road traffic deaths per 10,000 motor vehicles, one of the highest rates in the world. Most of the crashes occurring at ‘black spots’ and about 70% of crash fatalities occur in rural areas. A pilot project has been implemented on the Dhaka-Sylhet (N2) highway of Bangladesh. This road has many black spots and a high number of pedestrian fatalities. The pilot is innovative in both the selection of implemented interventions (a combination of effective and relatively low-cost measures) and in the approach to monitor pre- and post-intervention data. Methods The intervention program combines small-scale infrastructural measures for traffic calming (e.g., using speed humps, signs, and marking) with practical training (e.g., to school children) and active community involvement. Three methods are used for monitoring: development of own crash database with local record keepers, speed analysis, and conflict observation study using video (DOCTOR). Results We understand now the precise causes of crashes and conflicts. Buses are involved in 71% of dangerous road situations. Speeding and overtaking are the main risk-enhancing factors. After implementation of the pilot, the crash database showed a 63% reduction in the number of crashes and a reduction of over 70% in the number of people killed and injured. Conclusions The selected combinations of interventions is very effective to reduce road deaths and injuries at relatively low-cost. The selected methodologies for monitoring crash data and crash patterns provided a thorough overview and analysis of the causes of crashes and the impact of the selected interventions. Both the interventions and the monitoring methods are suitable for use in other LMICs.

Promoting vulnerable road users safety towards safe and equitable communities in Bangladesh

Bangladesh is a country in South Asia and is a very densely populated country with about 150 million inhabitants living in an area of 147 570 sq km. Road accidents are increasing alarmingly taking heavy toll of human lives and personal injuries. Over 10 000 deaths and 200 000 serious injuries from road crashes are estimated to occur annually in Bangladesh, while 4000 deaths are officially reported. With the lowest motorisation level, Bangladesh has the worst death rate (deaths/10 000 motor vehicles) of the region. Nearly 80% of road traffic fatalities are attributed to vulnerable road users (VRUs)- pedestrians, bicyclists, motor cyclists and users of informal and unsafe motorised and non-motorised transport. It is the poor that are most seriously affected with consequences of plunging poor households into acute poverty. Indeed the tragic premature, healthy and costly lives, permanent disabilities and property damages are exacerbating poverty reduction efforts particularly in rural areas. Clearly VRUs will remain the main victims of road traffic injuries for quite some time to come and their disproportionate injury problem deserves urgent attention. Intervention strategies like transport planning exposure and speed controls, traffic separation, VRUs friendly infrastructure designs and policies, use of technology and community based actions and initiatives are likely to play much more important role in Bangladesh. In this paper the disproportionate burden and characteristics of VRUs injuries are discussed. Road safety issues, intervention options and requirements are also discussed in promoting safe and equitable communities in Bangladesh.