- How safe are the walkers    click here to open paper content302 kb
by    Rahaman, Khan | krrporag@gmail.com   click here to send an email to the auther(s) of this paper
Short Outline
The paper is encouraging people to walk more which is more sustainable especially in developing countries.
Abstract
Pedestrians are the most vulnerable road users around the world. When it comes to the case of Dhaka city, the situation becomes more authentic as pedestrians are the most neglected and vulnerable road users in this mega city right at the moment. Strategic transport plan (STP) of 2005 has shown that almost 42% people in Dhaka city are relying only on foot to make their regular trips. However, concerned authorities, researchers and other professionals are always neglecting the pedestrians to ensure a better walking environment. Significant numbers of people are walking on the streets and walkways because the poor people want to save money. Some people also walk to save time as congestation forces them to walk. As a result, socio-economic conditions, physical road and walkway conditions and the inconvenient situations influence walkers to walk on the streets in Dhaka. This study tries to consider the subjective evaluation from the pedestrians to know the present safety situation, objective variables by observing the road conditions and socio-economic influences behind walking to prepare a model with the new techniques so that it can be understandable for different professionals to ensure pedestrian’s safety as a component of urban planning. The present work shows that almost 30% pedestrians face slight injury in a month and most of them are colliding with non-motorized vehicles. However, secondary information also reveals that pedestrians are the major victim of road accident within the city (almost 40%) while walking on the streets/walkways. The model we prepared has tried to build a relation with several socio-economic and physical variables that influences pedestrian’s safety in Dhaka. Finally, some recommendations have been developed that can help protecting the pedestrians from accident and can ensure a better walkway environment in Dhaka.
Keywords
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