The BSS news report published by some dailies on October 20th on Dhaka traffic jam, should be a must read item for our home and communication ministers and their top ranking bureaucrats; in particular the police DIGs; to be really aware of what is happening in traffic management in Dhaka. The same also probably applies to the traffic scenario in Chittagong and Khulna. As reported, traffic jams halt traffic for a total period of 7.5 hours every day! Since bulk of traffic movement is between 7 am to 10pm at most; the traffic is clogged for 7.5 hours out of 15; a staggering 50 per cent of time traffic is heavy!
   The key fact is the subjective hand signals of the traffic police at most road crossings. They often override the light signals even when it is operating adding more confusion to an already bad situation; since their hand movement at low level is not visible while the traffic light located about 10 feet high is clearly visible. The principle should be a timer set traffic signal with constant duration of one or two minutes intervals so that long traffic stream is broken up into manageable slots of traffic in all directions. Do the traffic police and their controlling authorities know anything about slot management of traffic? One can only wonder given the daily traffic chaos and confusion with contradictory light and hand signals, most of the time, at most crossings! To sum up poor traffic management by our traffic police is the root cause of this daily misery that is suffered by us.
   Another important peace of information, revealed by a Roads & Highways Engineer who estimates that we burn away about Tk10,000 Crore worth of costly imported fuel every year while transport vehicles are idling with the engine turning over in traffic jams! Does any one care to resolve this solvable problem while our ministers cry hoarse for everyone to be economic and saving money in all matters?
   SA Mansoor
   Dhaka