Traffic Management: Lesson 2: Like many other countries, so too in Bangladesh money is king. Sadly, in more and more cases, as governance goes awry the end (i.e. making money) is being used to justify any means.
Money has become precious because it is erroneously considered the root to all happiness – and even if happiness remains elusive, at least the big car, over priced real estate and perceived neighbour envy helps a lot of people try and sleep at night (which most probably find is as elusive as their happiness they expected mollycoddled in the moolah).
But I digress.
My point is if money is important, then retaining what little or lot people have should be equally a priority. Mobile phones are as ubiquitous as road rage in a country like Bangladesh. Perhaps it is time to bring technology and tantrum to work together... or actually, better still, use the technology to lower incidences of road rage and at the same time reign in some of the chaos on the streets of Dhaka.
Lesson #2: Pay it forward – may not seem plausible at first, particularly because people have a tendency to try and circumvent the law for the sake of it (even if it might cost more to do so or take too much time – it seems it's all worth it for the boasting rights!).
Dhaka needs toll roads and electronic instant fines for traffic violations – payment for which is all linked with two GSM units. The first is linked to the vehicle itself and used for tolls. The second is wired to the ignition system of the vehicle and electronically linked to the driver's driving licence and his mobile phone.
How it works is the mobile phone has an electronic wallet for payment of traffic fines – which requires an initial Taka 3000 deposit and a bottom of Taka 750, below which the vehicle will not start because the phone is linked with the vehicle's GSM unit and the ignition.
Every time the vehicle enters a busy zone or a designated toll zone (defined by office/school timings or similar) the requisite toll is deducted from the first GSM unit. But whenever the driver violates a traffic light or is not in the correct lane, operating the vehicle on wrong side of the road or makes an illegal turn the requisite fines are deducted off of the second unit which in turn is linked to the electronic wallet.
If the funds in the electronic wallet are depleted due to too many traffic violations the engine simply stops and the vehicle (if found obstructing traffic) towed away and impounded by the police, for release with another fine.
Sensors on the road, coupled with the GPS system in the vehicle, automatically deduct fines as violations happen. This system can also be used to immobilise the vehicle if it is stopped in the 'no-stop' zone (see Traffic Management: Lesson 1) for more than six seconds – making it easier for on-duty police officials to nab the offender.
What's more is that each driver will only be allowed to refill the account once a month – so if he has racked up fines he will be unable to operate any vehicle for the rest of the month. This is because the GSM unit will have to be mated with the phone and will only allow the vehicle to be started if the driver has sufficient funds on the mobile wallet.
The beauty of this system is two-fold, a) the residual Taka 750 from every driver's account can be used to build (or at least subsidise) the infrastructure required to get the system in place, and, b) more importantly because driver's with authentic licenses may only have electronic wallets that are recognised by the system, the car can only be operated by someone with a legitimate driver's license.
The streets of Dhaka are the way they are because of the low accountability of the road users, drivers can drive any which way without too much concern of the laws or other users – using technology in this manner will bring about accountability sooner than any other means.
Can't agree? Willing to poke holes in my thoughts? Have a better solution? Feel free to leave a comment.
Money has become precious because it is erroneously considered the root to all happiness – and even if happiness remains elusive, at least the big car, over priced real estate and perceived neighbour envy helps a lot of people try and sleep at night (which most probably find is as elusive as their happiness they expected mollycoddled in the moolah).But I digress.
My point is if money is important, then retaining what little or lot people have should be equally a priority. Mobile phones are as ubiquitous as road rage in a country like Bangladesh. Perhaps it is time to bring technology and tantrum to work together... or actually, better still, use the technology to lower incidences of road rage and at the same time reign in some of the chaos on the streets of Dhaka.
Lesson #2: Pay it forward – may not seem plausible at first, particularly because people have a tendency to try and circumvent the law for the sake of it (even if it might cost more to do so or take too much time – it seems it's all worth it for the boasting rights!).
Dhaka needs toll roads and electronic instant fines for traffic violations – payment for which is all linked with two GSM units. The first is linked to the vehicle itself and used for tolls. The second is wired to the ignition system of the vehicle and electronically linked to the driver's driving licence and his mobile phone.
How it works is the mobile phone has an electronic wallet for payment of traffic fines – which requires an initial Taka 3000 deposit and a bottom of Taka 750, below which the vehicle will not start because the phone is linked with the vehicle's GSM unit and the ignition.
Every time the vehicle enters a busy zone or a designated toll zone (defined by office/school timings or similar) the requisite toll is deducted from the first GSM unit. But whenever the driver violates a traffic light or is not in the correct lane, operating the vehicle on wrong side of the road or makes an illegal turn the requisite fines are deducted off of the second unit which in turn is linked to the electronic wallet.If the funds in the electronic wallet are depleted due to too many traffic violations the engine simply stops and the vehicle (if found obstructing traffic) towed away and impounded by the police, for release with another fine.
Sensors on the road, coupled with the GPS system in the vehicle, automatically deduct fines as violations happen. This system can also be used to immobilise the vehicle if it is stopped in the 'no-stop' zone (see Traffic Management: Lesson 1) for more than six seconds – making it easier for on-duty police officials to nab the offender.
The streets of Dhaka are the way they are because of the low accountability of the road users, drivers can drive any which way without too much concern of the laws or other users – using technology in this manner will bring about accountability sooner than any other means.
Can't agree? Willing to poke holes in my thoughts? Have a better solution? Feel free to leave a comment.
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