front Page metropolitan editorial comments international business infotech environment advocacy BRAC puts the breaks on road accidents Jenevieve Mannell It is not surprising that road traffic accidents are on the fast track to becoming a leading cause of death. However, the statistics may just stop you in your tracks. There are one hundred deaths due to road accidents every hour, which amounts to 1.2 million people being killed each year according to the World Bank. To put this in context, the number of people killed is equivalent to nine jumbo jets crashing each day. This represents 2.1 per cent of global mortality and for every person who loses his life, another 30 to 40 people are seriously injured. The World Health Organisation predicts that road traffic injury will become the third leading cause of years of life lost (premature death measured in years lost) by 2020, surpassing major killers such as AIDS and malaria. Anyone who shares the road in Bangladesh knows that this country is no exception to these devastating statistics. According to police records, there are 4,000 deaths from road traffic accidents per year, but with underreporting being a common occurrence, this number is actually thought to be closer to 16,000. Estimates of the actual number of road traffic injuries approaches 375,000; injuries that leave thousands of people unable to work and their families often without a primary breadwinner. Almost 70 per cent of the victims are pedestrians. Bangladesh is not alone in these numbers since developing countries account for 70 per cent of the global death toll. Asia and the Pacific region is by far the worst in the world accounting for 44 per cent of the estimated road traffic fatalities in 1999. Humanitarian concerns aside, the rate of road traffic accidents presents an enormous financial cost to Bangladesh and other developing countries. The cost PAGES HOLIDAY ARCHIVE ANNIVERSARY ISSUE SUBSCRIPTION RATE ADVERTISEMENT TARIFF
culture miscellany advocacy aviatour of road accidents for the developing world is estimated at $65 billion, the approximate amount of the entire aid budget. For Bangladesh the cost of road accidents is equal to 1.6 per cent of the Gross National Product, making it all too clear that this is an issue we can no longer afford to ignore. In its attempt to curtail the growing rate of road traffic accidents in Bangladesh, the government has made some major inroads: a National Road Safety Council has been established; there is a National Road Safety Strategic Plan in place; and an Accident Research Centre is up and running. The Communication Minister, Barrister Nazmul Huda, has shown his commitment to road safety by inaugurating an audio cassette developed on the issue of road safety. Just last week the Communication Minister also commended a set of International Guidelines For Conducting Road Safety Education Programmes In Developing Countries that have been created by the UK firm Transport Research Laboratory (TRL), and were launched in Bangladesh at a conference held at BRAC on October 21. Recognising the need for road safety education in order to truly address the road accident problem, the guidelines are intended as a manual for road safety practitioners to identify and come to an understanding of a community?s road safety issues, and provide education on road safety in a sustainable way. The hope is that these guidelines will be widely implemented across Bangladesh in an effort to increase awareness and stop road deaths. The guidelines focus specifically on addressing one of the causes of road traffic accidents?? that of pedestrian awareness. While there are certainly other factors contributing to road traffic accidents such as reckless driving, lack of formal driver education, and an absence of standardised road regulations, which need to be addressed through increased driver awareness and policy development, in the meantime pedestrian education offers a cost-effective solution that is easy to implement. The success of the pedestrian-focused approach was demonstrated in a major research study on promoting road safety through community education conducted in Bangladesh by BRAC and TRL, which in turn contributed significantly to establishing the
International Guidelines. Conducted in the rural community of Betila in Manikganj district, BRAC?s research revealed a disturbing lack of awareness of the community of basic road safety principles and highlighted the potential for increasing knowledge and changing action through a community-based campaign. The research focused on involving the entire community in identifying local road safety problems, and then designing and implementing potential countermeasures. In addition to providing some solutions for the road traffic issue, it highlights an alarming lack of knowledge about basic road safety principles, the specific aspect of the issue that TRL?s International Guidelines address. The knowledge of road safety in Betila before the campaign began was grim; only six per cent of the community had knowledge of rules for safe walking. When questioned to see if members of the community were aware that they should be walking on the right side of the road in order to see oncoming traffic, one community member responded that,?usually we walk on the left side of the road. We also use the right side for walking. In fact, we don?t use any particular side of a road. We use the side of a road we find convenient.? This haphazard approach has had severe implications for the community; in the last two years three people had been killed in road accidents at the Betila intersection. Between 2001 and 2003, there had been 125 accident victims in the community, with only one accident having been reported to the police. The Betila campaign used a number of activities suggested by the community to improve their road safety awareness when walking on the road. Theatre was staged for the community depicting true stories where pedestrians were killed and demonstrating safe pedestrian practices. Counselling sessions took place in the village courtyard as well as door-to-door, and posters were hung up around the community. The campaign addressed the issue with local schools through the use of flip charts and discussions, and a Betila Road Safety Day was held where the community brought out a colourful procession to help motivate the community on a large scale. Even
more innovative was the use of hired Community Traffic Wardens, unemployed local poor who were given training on good road safety practices and expected to assist children and the elderly in crossing the road safely, providing education on parking vehicles in appropriate places, and motivate people to not store goods on the side of the road. A community Road Safety Group was also established in order to maintain motivation and implement additional activities for road safety in the community, after the BRAC/ TRL campaign had ended. By the end of the campaign, these efforts had had a significant impact on the community and raised the interest of the Upazilla Road Safety Committee, NGOs and local government representatives in surrounding areas. Not only had there been dramatic improvements in the level of knowledge of road safety by the community but the percentage of pedestrians following the guidelines had also increased. There is no value in education if it is not followed by changes in action, so the rise in persons walking along the right side of the road to 66 per cent (from 45 per cent before the intervention) is significant for Betila. Pedestrian education represents a good starting point for addressing road accidents in Bangladesh. It is easy to implement in an individual community, as opposed to the expansive task of driver education, which needs to target a much broader area to have an impact. In addition, pedestrian education directly targets the poor, who cannot afford cars themselves and are therefore often most vulnerable to road accidents. While road injury is a terrible occurrence regardless of who is affected, the poor are especially affected by injuries that prevent them from being able to work either temporarily or permanently. Children are another frequent victim of road accidents, a tragedy that may easily be avoided through road safety education campaigns. In the BRAC/TRL study almost two-thirds of the children in the community reported using transportation to go to school or other places, and on average more than two types of transportation were used (for example, buses and walking). The more frequently children use transportation and the less knowledge they have
about how to be safe on the road, the more prone they are to being the target of a road accident. And yet, children are much more likely than adults to adopt behaviour as a result of an education campaign, and therefore need to be the central focus for teaching road safety. The BRAC campaign, tested in Betila, is now being extended to encompass a large portion of the communities along the Dhaka-Sylhet Highway. The lessons learned from the study have been incorporated into TRL?s International Guidelines. A specific achievement of the campaign was the successful integration of the community in providing their own solutions for road safety. The BRAC leader for the Betila research, Najmul Hussain, highlighted this during the recent launch of the guidelines at BRAC?s head office:?brac was a catalyst [for the campaign], BRAC was just the facilitator. What was done was done through the community at Betila.? Allowing communities to discover their own issues and offer solutions guarantees that the issues are identified as problems by the community and provides a sense of ownership over the process. This is integral to creating lasting solutions and making sure that pedestrians turn their knowledge into action whenever they choose to cross the road. While the Betila study demonstrates the impact road safety education can have, as mentioned, pedestrian-focused campaigns are only one element in putting a stop to the road accident problem. The community at Betila themselves highlighted road design, reckless driving, and the use of the side of the road for storage and selling as factors contributing to the road safety issue. At a recent conference at BRAC, guest speakers also highlighted a number of additional concerns. It was mentioned that despite the existence of road design guidelines that take into consideration pedestrian usage, these considerations are not always being built into new roads. Pedestrian rights in general need to be considered, protecting lives by giving pedestrians the right of way before all vehicles, a right that would have to be duly enforced at the local level. Enforcement itself is an issue with accidents rarely being reported. Although it?s difficult to imagine, in the last six years there has not
been a single violation for a road traffic accident in Bangladesh. There has also been talk of banning older vehicles because of their contribution to the high rate of road accidents and suggestions have been made for the development and dissemination of an official Highway Code. According to the Vice Chancellor of BRAC University, Professor Jamilur Reza Choudhury, what is needed overall is a government-led intervention with established targets and defined priorities being incorporated into the National Road Safety Strategic Plan in order to make the roads of Bangladesh a safe place to be. Road traffic accidents are on the rise and as the population increases it promises to get worse. The BRAC/TRL research at Betila demonstrates the potential for community-focused education campaigns to increase pedestrian awareness and hopefully to save lives. The secret is in allowing communities to participate in their own interventions, increasing the potential for bringing about actual changes in behaviour. While more needs to be done in policy and enforcement, individual communities have the ability to take control of road safety for themselves and put the breaks on road traffic accidents in their communities. Jenevieve Mannell is an experienced writer and communications strategist from Canada who is working as an intern with BRAC?s research division. She was a rapporteur at a seminar held at BRAC where the International Guidelines for Community Road Safety Education were launched. ^ TOP OF THIS PAGE ^ MAIN PAGE COPYRIGHT HOLIDAY PUBLICATION LIMITED Mailing address 30, Tejgaon Industrial Area, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. Phone 880-2-9122950, 9110886, 9128117, 8124593 Fax 880-2-9127927 Email holiday@bangla.net Webmaster Zahirul Islam Mamoon