Reigning in jaywalking in Dhaka

This article part of a series of traffic management articles that I have undertaken – particularly designed and thought out for the streets of my hometown Dhaka (and expandable to all the other cities across Bangladesh). Where it'll all end no one knows... [this is true for both the deplorable traffic condition in Dhaka and the number of articles in this series]

Traffic Management: Lesson 3... err 4: I have always maintained that there are few countries as free and democratic when it comes to personal freedoms than Bangladesh. Very few countries will allow people to cross the street at any point that is deemed convenient – this is regardless of the time of day or night, the width of the road being crossed, or the average speed in which on-coming traffic is moving.

The denizens of Dhaka cross the street anywhere and anytime they please; oftentimes under the cool shade of the pedestrian overpass.


Here is a country where the people perpetually seem always late to get where they are going. An observer would be forgiven to think that pedestrians on Dhaka streets literally value the perceived saved seconds higher than risk of potential road injuries (and/or possible fatalities); because that is how it is.

Interestingly perpetual traffic gridlock on busy streets also encourages our pedestrians to cross in between the gaps of idling vehicles (manned by clutch-popping, frustrated motorists at the wheel). A situation that begs asking whether the traffic actually moves even slower (when it does at all) because of these opportunistic jaywalkers on the streets!

Now you'd be forgiven to think that these pedestrian jaywalkers (very commonplace in Dhaka) disregard personal safety completely. Not at all, if you watch them long enough you'd see they confidently raise their arms as they venture across the front of large vehicles, such as buses or trucks, so that the driver is given a figurative warning that there are people crossing immediately ahead.

[That these people coming out from in front of a bus are completely blind to on-coming traffic is no moot point here – the onus is on the drivers to watch where they are going. Sort of like passing the buck on personal safety onto the shoulders of other perpetually late road users (who are really in vehicles of mass destruction should they shirk that responsibility).]

Lesson 3: Zapping jaywalkers - would essentially use a zap gun to zap any jaywalker crossing the street. However, even in a free country such cannot be allowed – not only would it be very impolite but it could also infuriate some offenders to seek retribution (mob justice is pretty big in this country of frustrated people).

The government's plan to fine jaywalkers Bangladesh Taka 5 for each offence, while applaudable was actually implausible due to the sheer number of offenders at critical junctions – for every fine imposed a score or more could get through unperturbed (to sin another day). Besides a meagre Tk. 5 fine cannot be a real deterrent – only those who could not out shout down a policeman for trying to impose the fine would eventually pay.

That is why Lesson 4: Mob justice would have to be imposed. Now before people get their hockey sticks and iron rods out of the cupboard and rush to the first crowded intersection, it needs to be clarified that mob justice, as advised, would not require any real molestation of offenders.

No, this would be uniformed, identifiable community policing where the Tk. 10 fine would be extracted and a potion pooled for sharing equally among the members at the end of each month. The people of the country are used to seeing such community police so there would be very little problems in building awareness among road users.

At the core of the lesson is the idea that a 'mob' of community police personnel can only truly control a 'mob' of offenders.

What's more the funds collected would be used to pay wages and administrative charges and other incidentals (a fine book, for example; how could a fine be extracted without a receipt and still remain above the board) as well as for the hiring and training of personnel – thus the solution will not a burden on the exchequer while at the same time provide employment and order.

Perhaps a portion of the proceeds (15 percent) can be shared with the government exchequer. This would serve a dual purpose: 1) maintain a decorum of state sanction and legitimacy, and 2) ensure that the placement and strength of the community police force is within the knowledge of the city authorities for control.

These community police forces can be divided or repositioned to cover wider areas should such a need come – after all it is a free country.