DMP Commissioner: Case to be filed if gatelock system not followed on roads

Mentioning that gatelock system has been introduced to ease traffic congestion in the streets of Dhaka city, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Commissioner Habibur Rahman said that cases will be filed if the system is not followed.

Action will be taken against them who pick up passengers from Mohakhali to Banani without complying with the gatelock system, said the DMP commissioner.

He said these things while responding to reporters after the inauguration ceremony of the Traffic Safety Awareness Program and Road Safety Slogan Competition-2024 organized by Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Tejgaon on Tuesday.

Habibur Rahman said that in the gatelock checking system, after leaving a bus stoppage with a certain number of passengers, the bus will not be able to stop anywhere except the specified place.

The long-distance bus will leave from the bus terminal and go to the destination. Legal action is being taken only if passengers are standing around, said the DMP boss.

Mohakhali is a big bus terminal in the Dhaka metropolitan area. The space available at the terminal has a parking space of 400 vehicles. On the contrary, 1800 cars move here every day. Due to this vehicles are parked on the road for a long time. The vehicles that go out of Dhaka from Mohakhali via Abdullahpur and Uttara used to stop and pick up passengers from Mohakhali to Banani. Especially when passengers gathered at Mohakhali railway crossing, buses used to pick up passengers from there. This is one of the reasons for traffic congestion in the Mohakhali area, he added.

A decision has been taken after discussing with Mohakhali bus owners, workers and related parties. Vehicles departing from Mohakhali will not park before Banani, pick up or drop off any passengers before Banani in order to reducing traffic congestion, said the DMP boss.

The traffic police operation has started. In this process, it has been seen that some vehicles have violated this rule. In the meantime, a case has been filed against 15 vehicles for not following the rules, said Habibur Rahman.

He also said that the process of picking up passengers by parking on the road has been going on since the Mohakhali bus terminal was opened. This initiative has been taken after a long time. But it will take some time to establish the system 100%. Passengers and bus concerned will be forced to implement it.

The three types of speed limits have been determined on the same road. In response to a question whether accidents will increase if a vehicle goes for overtaking, the DMP Commissioner said, a driver should understand the road conditions and drive the vehicle.

In Dhaka city, 40kmph has been fixed for large vehicle, 40kmph for medium vehicle and 30kmph for motorcycle. There is no legal overtaking system in Dhaka city. Overtaking will not be a problem if the driver understands the situation applying intelligence.

A sergeant will not stop a passenger vehicle on the road. However, the DMP Commissioner also said that if any vehicle breaks the speed limit and causes an accident, it will be stopped.