Bangladesh Community Road Safety
Initiative Project
Presentation to Stakeholders
Venue: MC 13-800
Washington DC.
November 11, 1999
Current Situation in Bangladesh
• 70 deaths per 10,000 vehicles
• Fatality rate in Bangladesh is
most severe in Asia and 40 times
that of industrialized countries
• Pedestrians are the ones that are
most affected:
– They account for 60% of all road
accident fatalities,
– 46% of those killed are men
– women and children are secondary
victims
– 40%-50% of hospital beds are
occupied by traffic accidents
Note: All are 1997 figures
Current Road & Traffic Situation
• Inadequate separation of major highways (from living and
commercial activity)
• Inadequate pedestrian facilities
• Poorly designed roads
• Growing traffic levels and higher speeds
• Ever increasing number of vehicles on the road (motorized
and non-motorized vehicles)
• Untrained drivers often using fake licenses
• Ignorance on road safety among drivers and pedestrians
• Weak enforcement of traffic laws
CURRENT ROAD AND TRAFFIC
SITUATION
Categories of Road Traffic Accident Casualties
Categories of RTA
-Fatalities 40%
-Serious injuries 32%
-Slight injuries
54%
Only 20% included in the official statistics
level of under-reporting was high and
consistent through out Bangladesh
79,000 casualty estimated in Bangladesh
in1997 (5 X official figures)
ANNUAL ACCIDENT COSTS AND GROSS
NATIONAL PRODUCT (1997)
• Annual Accident Costs- 21,435
taka million ($437 million)
• Gross National Product
1,616,309 taka ($32, 986 million)
• Accident Costs %GNP(1.4%)
Current Road Safety Actions
• The National Road Safety Action Plan, drawn up in
1996, lists out 9 sub-sectors of road safety:
• Accident Data Reporting
• Road Safety Engineering
• Traffic Legislation
• Traffic Enforcement
• Driver Training and Testing
• Vehicle Safety
• Education
• Publicity, and
• Medical Services
• Road safety needs to be recognized as a high
priority at the local level or else there is a danger
that it will stay as a neglected area for action by the
central government.
• Road safety initiatives thus far have been
relatively silent on the roles of the victims:
–
–
–
–
–
pedestrians,
young men
women,
children, and
passengers of buses and rickshaws
• This group of people has two important
roles:
– To become self-aware in order to protect
themselves from dangerous situations
– Act as a pressure group to influence policy
makers, legislators, traffic police, and vehicle
operators to take corrective actions
SHIFT IN STRATEGY NOW NEEDED
•
Bring in voices of victims in the design choice of safety measures
•
Address weaknesses in central agencies by using local communities
•
Behavioral changes through education and awareness
•
Good analytical work, legislation and proposal for action have been made under the Road
Safety Action Plan
•
National Road Safety Council has been established
•
Rising support exists for road safety
OPPORTUNITIES FOR BANK INVOLVEMENT
Can raise profile of Road Safety
among decision makers
Provide funds, expertise for
implementation of Road Safety
Responds to CASPRIORITIES
Promoting better public sector
management
Promoting more equitable human
development in relation to health,
Has good understanding with other
donors on Road Safety
income, security and gender
Creating partnership between
Can provide links with Global Road
government,private sector and
Safety Partnership (GRSP). The
NGOs
CRSIP is a pilot initiative of GRSP
ROAD SAFETY CHAMPIONS
• Secretary of Ministry of
Communications
• Additional Secretary of
Finance (ERD)
• Joint Secretary of Ministry
of Local Government
ROAD SAFETY CHAMPIONS:
CORPORATE PARTNERS
• Federation of Bangladesh Chamber of
Commerce and Industry
• Nitol Group ( Mr. Matlub Ahmad, chairman of a
leading bus and transport co.
• Grameen Phone, a leading provider of
telecommunications services
• The Rangs Group with business interest in
automobiles, buses and trucks
• Glaxo Wellcome Pharmaceutical (Mr. Haque the
CEO, has recently been involved in a major
traffic accident
• 4-6 representatives offered to support advertising
space for road safety
ROAD SAFETY CHAMPIONS:
CIVIL SOCIETY
• Director of Bangladesh National Mother &
Child Health Hospital
• CAMPE an Educational Awareness Institute
(Ms. Chowdhury, Executive Director
• BRAC (A large national NGO) has a
component for Road Safety in its activities
• IMCT (Mr. Murtaza Babu- Ed)
• Mr. Ilyas Kanchan (Film Actor who lost his wife
and children in a road accident)
• Daily Star, Independent and New Nation
• Bangladesh Road Transport Association (Mr.
Haq, President)
Proposed Project COMPONENTS
A Strategic Communications Program (SCP): Involves building on
existing initiatives and includes other activities like:
* General population through mass media
* Seminars and/or workshops for road users, pedestrians, drivers community
member, government officials, and private groups or individuals
* Drivers training program
B Local Initiatives and Program:
* Preparation of District and local local level Road Safety Action Plans
* Implement RS projects by local RS Groups with assistance from District and
Center . Include:
* physical measures (fencing, signage, road repair, and safety watch posts)
* law enforcement equipment and training;
* emergency medical, legal and financial help to victims
Proposed Project Components
Community Road Safety Fund and Institutional Strengthening:
This is to establish the fund and to strengthen the capacity of its partners
in road safety activities:
–
–
–
–
–
provide regular, continuing income to support RS activities
orientation and training activities to RS partners
review and approve local road safety action plans
finance individual road safety projects
monitor and evaluation of RS activities
•
Recognition - this is a temporary measure with an explicit exit strategy to
mainstream road safety initiatives.
Global Road Safety Partnership
Global Burden of Disease
1990
Lower respiratory infections
Diarrhoeal diseases
Conditions arising during the
Perinatal period
Unipolar major depression
Ischaemic heart disease
Cerebrovascular disease
Tuberculosis
Measles
Road traffic accidents
Congenital anomalies
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
16
28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
25
24
2020
Ischaemic heart disease
Unipolar major depression
Road traffic accidents
Cerebrovascular disease
Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease
Lower respiratory infections
Tuberculosis
War
Diarrhoeal diseases
HIV
Global Road Safety Partnership
The Silent Killer
One 747 crashes 400 killed
1 planes crash / wk 4000 dead
100 planes crash / mth 40,000 dead
1,000 planes crash / year 400,000 dead
1,750 planes worth / yr j700,000 dead
from road accidents but no one seems
international media attention
international outcry
panic
boycott
?
CRSIP PROJECT PROCESS
Accident Victims
Accident Perpetrators
•Pedestrians
•Young men
•Women & children
•Bus & Rickshaw passengers
•Bus & truck drivers
•Motorcycle drivers
•Rickshaw & handcart ops.
Causes:
•Untrained drivers
•Ineffective & corrupt police
•Multiple use roadways
•Poor pedestrians & NMV facilities
Vulnerable road users
have two important roles
Target
Groups
GOB
NGOs
CBOs
Priv. Sect.
Become more
self-aware
to protect
themselves
Actors:
Act as pressure
groups to
influence
•Policy-makers
•Legislators
•Traffic police
•Vehicle operators
•Local Govts.
•Mass media
Strategic Components
Inputs
Ownership
Influence
Advice
•Education
•Physical
•Mass awareness
programs to
measures
programs
vulnerable
•Driver training
groups.
•Police training
•Victims’
•Incentives, penalties
assistance To recognize and support
Local Community Road Safety Plans
•Involve key local actors
•Analyze safety problems
•Plan physical and educational solutions
•Undertake driver training
•Assist victims
Implementation by:
Advice
Fund
•Local public works authority
•Education focus groups
•Driving schools
•Mass media
•Victim counselling & financial assistance
Inputs
National-Level Actions
Inputs
•Strengthen NRSC, BTRA, Transp. Orgs.
•Legislation, Penalties
•Driver, Police training plan & incentives
•Guidelines & manuals
Implemented by
•Mass media
•Training national police
•Public/private national
transport businessmen