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ACCIDENT RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ARI): PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

INTRODUCTION:

Of all the systems with which people have to deal every day, road traffic systems are

the most complex and the most dangerous. In spite of great progress in international traffic

safety work, traffic accidents still cause a large and increasing number of fatalities and severe

injuries particularly in developing countries like Bangladesh. Worldwide, the number of

people killed in road traffic crashes is estimated almost 1.3 million and at least 50 million are

injured each year.

Many countries of the world comprising developed and developing have drastically

reduced or controlled road traffic accidents and injuries by the means of scientific and

pragmatic policies, strategies, guidance, intervention and evaluation in spite of the enormous

increase in travel demand and mobility and It is predicted that the number of people killed on

roads will rise by at least 80 percent over the next 20 years in developing countries like

Bangladesh whereas it is expected to decrease by 30 percent in high income countries (iRAP,

2008b) unless any effective measures are taken. Sustained declining trends of road fatalities

in the developed countries have been attributed to concerted efforts in many sectors including

effective coordination, community involvement, well researched road safety initiatives, road

safety good practices and improved targeting of resources. In developing countries like

Bangladesh major considerations of such approaches are required with due urgency and

commitment.

The statistics revealed that Bangladesh has one of the highest fatality rates in road

accidents with over 50 fatalities per 10,000 on-road motor vehicles. Vulnerable Road Users

(VRUs) viz. pedestrians, children, bicyclists, cycle rickshaw occupants and pullers are the

worst affected victims and account for nearly 80 percent of road traffic accidents fatalities in

Bangladesh. In combating this epidemic on road, some major initiatives have been

undertaken in Bangladesh in the past decade including policy formulation, research,

education, legislation and sanction and engineering intervention. The Government of

Bangladesh is now becoming concern about the growing road safety problems and is trying to

fight against such trauma on our roads. As a part of Government’s as well as private

initiatives some pragmatic programs have been taken to ensure safer transportation. Efforts

are underway for integrating different organizations both at public and private sectors, civil

societies, communities and individuals towards identifying their specific roles and

responsibilities and thereby developing effective measures to tackle road safety problems in

Bangladesh.

In respect to the magnitude of the problems, these initiatives are at a very infant level

and the progresses is very slow for the causes of enormous constraints at different levels.

Indeed, the allocation for road safety research and intervention is very low in comparison to

other diseases and disasters. Lack of firm commitment and efforts of the government,

communities, organizations and individuals, inadequate understanding of the problems,

shortage of professional bodies and qualified manpower have also hindered the activities and

initiatives.

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MAGNITUDE OF THE ROAD SAFETY PROBLEMS IN BANGLADESH

Accident Statistics

Like many other countries in the world, police are officially responsible for reporting

and recording of road accidents and casualties in Bangladesh. According to the police

reported official statistics, there were at least 3764 fatalities and 3284 injuries in 4426

reported accidents in 2008 (PFIR, 2008). Reported road traffic accidents statistics of the last

decades are given in Table 1. A study on Bangladesh Road Crash Costing conducted by the

Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) funded by the United Kingdom (UK) Department of

International Development (DFID) in 2003 showed that there was 885,056 accidents and

among them 10,692 was fatal, 106,062 were grievous, 147,660 minor and 442,981 were

property damage accidents (TRL, 2003). This study also estimated that the total casualties

resulting from road traffic accidents were 529,880, among them 12,792 fatalities and 165,464

seriously injured (TRL, 2003). Significant fluctuations in the numbers of fatalities and

injuries as reported by police clearly reflect the problems of reporting and recording

inconsistencies. It can be noted here that this reporting inconsistencies might be attributed for

the different methodological system of data collection and accident fatalities defining criteria

but this fluctuation could be same level in the previous year and gradually reduces in the

recent year because of various positives responses which will discussed in the succeeding

sections.

Table 1: Number of Road Accidents, Fatalities, and Injuries in Bangladesh

Year

No. of

Accidents No. of Fatalities No. of Injuries

Total

Casualties

Traffic

fatalities

per

10,000

vehicles

(on road

vehicle)

*

FIR1 MAAP

2 FIR4

MAAP5

FIR4 MAAP

5 FIR4

MAAP5

1998 4769 3533 3085 2358 3997 3297 7082 5655 78.24

1999 4916 3948 3314 2893 3453 3469 6767 6362 79.60

2000 4357 3970 3430 3058 1911 3485 5341 6543 78.09

2001 4091 2925 3109 2388 3127 2565 6236 4953 66.39

2002 4918 3941 3398 3053 3772 3285 7170 6338 67.18

2003 4749 4114 3289 3334 3818 3740 7107 7074 61.03

2004 3917 3566 2968 3150 2752 3026 5720 6176 53.71

2005 4949 3322 3187 2960 2754 2570 5941 5530 52.86

2006 3794 3549 3193 3160 2409 2123 5602 5283 50.44

2007 4869 3910 3749 3250 3273 2102 7022 5352 56.41

2008 4426 - 3764 - 3284 - 7048 - 53.93

Source: Police reported Micro Computer Accident Analysis Package (MAAP) data base

* Note: Traffic fatalities per 10,000 vehicles (on road vehicle) calculated considering the FIR

data as there is reported more number of fatalities

1 FIR: First Information Record, the case entry record in the police log-book 2 MAAP: Microcomputer Accident Analysis Package, Police reported accident database in

the prescribed form.

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Fatality Rate

Figure 1 shows fatality rates in various countries as function of per-capita income.

The Indian fatality rate (represented by the red square) is in the middle of the range for low-

income countries (Mohan, 2004) and the Bangladeshi fatality rate (represented by the red

circle) is in the bottom of the range for low-income countries. This may be attributed to

significant amount of underreporting as well as high population density coupled with low

motorization level. As incomes in Bangladesh increases along with motor-vehicle use,

Bangladesh is becoming a middle income country, the present trends fatalities per million

persons and the experience of some mid-income countries suggest that fatalities could see a

dramatic rise before they start to drop, consistent with the so-called Kuznets curve (e.g.,

McManus, 2007). However, future trends may be altered if vehicle design, road building,

education and traffic management policies include the latest scientific countermeasures.

Figure 1: Traffic Fatality rates per 100,000 persons in 116 countries. Bangladesh is

represented by red circle and India is represented by the red square (Mohan, 2004)

The ‘fatality rates’, i.e. the estimated number of road traffic accident fatalities per 10,000 on

road motor vehicle for Bangladesh (over 50) is very high by international standards, as the

fatality rates for motorized countries is usually less than 2 (2 in the United States of America

and 1.4 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland). “A Review Of Global

Road Accident Fatalities” conducted by Jacobs and Thomas showed that the Bangladesh has

one of the highest fatality rates in road accidents, over 40 deaths per 10,000 registered motor

vehicles (Jacobs et al, 2000). Table 1 also shows the trends of fatalities per 10,000 on road

motorized vehicles in Bangladesh.

Trends of Road Traffic Accidents and Fatalities in Bangladesh

Total Number of Accidents and Fatalities: The road safety situation in Bangladesh has

improved quite significantly in recent years. According to the police reported accident

records, the number of fatalities has been increasing from 187 in 1972 to 3764 in 2008, nearly

10 percent per year in the total 37 years life of Bangladesh but in the last decade this

numbers are not equally increased (3314 in 1999 to 3764 in 2008, 2% per year)(Figure 3).

However, from this figure it is evaluated that there are no significant increase of accidents,

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fatalities, injuries and casualties have taken place in the last decade in Bangladesh in spite of

increase of huge umber of population, personal trips, vehicles (formal, informal; motorized,

non-motorized), road network as well as increase of level of understanding on the necessity

of accident reporting and recording particularly for the continuous monitoring of media

personnel and introduction of formal accident reporting system. This is attributable partly to

an improvement of road condition (in the form of curve straightening, carriageway widening,

black spot treatment etc.), construction of new national and regional highway with the help of

foreign consultants incorporating pre-safety auditing approach, increase in the number of

high standard vehicles on the road (like Volvo, Hino etc.), improved road users education

and awareness level and partly to the enhancement of a coordinated official policy to control

the problem and police enforcement.

In the Figure 3, it is also seen that there is an extreme fluctuation in the year of 1997 to 1999.

This may be attributed for the introduction of newly developed accident reporting form and

organizing series of training program for the police personnel in particular aims to enhance

their capacity regarding proper way of reporting and filling up of different attribute data in

the Accident Report Form (ARF) under the Institutional Development Component (IDC) of

South-West Road Network Development Project (SRNDP) project.

Figure 3: Traffic Accidents, Fatalities, 1972 through 2008.

Fatalities per Million Persons and per 100 Km RHD Roads: Figure 5 shows the trends for

fatalities per million persons and per 100 km Road and Highways Department (RHD) roads

in Bangladesh. Fatalities per million persons indicate the national health burden of traffic

crashes. For Bangladesh, the fatality rates have increased from 2.74 fatalities per million

persons and 4.48 fatalities per 100 RHD roads in 1972 to 29.8 and 17.83 respectively in 2008

(Figure 4) but in the last decade it has also not significantly increased (15.81 to 17.83 and

26.91 to 29.81 respectively). Figure 5 shows that the overall fatalities per 10,000 on road

motor vehicles have increased from 40 in 1972 to 53 in 2008, it has decreased in the last

decade by about 31 Percent (78 to 53). Both the figures show the same fluctuation in the

same period, may be attributed from the same reason.

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From these figures it can also be concluded that as the degree of exposure in the form of

number of trips, number of vehicles, road users as well as amount of road network are ever

increasing, this trends shows a positive and hopeful sign.

Fatalities per 100 Million Vehicle Kilometers: Accident and Fatality rates with respect to

vehicle kilometer are calculated based on vehicle Operation Survey data conducted by Roads

and Highways (RHD) department in different years. Table 3 represent the total vehicle

kilometer travel by motorized vehicles and the accidents and fatalities per 100 Million

vehicle kilometers over a period of 5 years (1999 to 2004).

Table 3 : Accidents and Fatalities per 100 Million Vehicle Kilometers

Year Total veh-km No. of

accidents

No. of accidents

per 100 million

veh-km

No. of

fatalities

No. of fatalities

per 100 million

veh-km

1999 13,419,385,000 4,916 37 3,314 25

2000 12,719,533,000 4,357 34 3,430 27

2002 14,125,435,000 4,918 35 3,398 24

2004 21,042,770,900 3,917 19 2,968 14

Source: RHD (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005a)

The above table shows that in a span of five years total annual vehicle kilometers

driven by motor vehicles have increased by 57 percent. The corresponding accident and

fatality rates have decreased by 49 percent and 43 percent respectively per 100 million

vehicle kilometers of vehicles plying on road. Significant reduction in accident and fatality

rates per 100 million vehicle kilometers also indicate a positive approach towards traffic

safety improvements in the country.

Figure 4: Traffic fatality per Million Persons

and per 100 km RHD roads, 1972 through

2008 (Police, RHD, BBS).

Figure 5: Traffic fatality per 10,000 on road

motor vehicles, 1972 through 2008 (Police,

BRTA).

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Picture 1: ARI Building

ESTABLISHMENT OF ARI AT BUET

The Accident Research Institute (ARI),

formerly known as Accident Research

Centre (ARC), a centre first of its kind,

was established under the top priority

programs of the Government of the

People’s Republic of Bangladesh to carry

out scientific studies and research

regarding the causes of accidents on roads,

railways and waterways and

commensurate remedial measures.

The Proposed Accident research

started its activities from January 2002. At

its inception activities were managed at the

Traffic Engineering and Safety Research

Centre of transportation and Traffic

Engineering Division of the Civil Engineering Department, BUET. Later on the center sifted

to its own full-fledged 4-storied building sides the Department of Urban and Regional

Planning (URP), BUET. After nearly six years of launching, the Accident Research Institute

(ARI) has been established by the Syndicate of BUET in its 418th meeting held on 12

January 2008 following the recommendation of the Finance Committee on 08/01/2008

(Office Order No- Songstha/E-30/Re-3806, Dated- 29/01/2008) by converting the erstwhile

Accident Research Centre (ARC).

WHAT IS ARI

It is a Center of Excellence for the advancement of safety research in Bangladesh. The

main objectives of the Institute are to carry out scientific research and investigation to

ascertain the causes of accidents on roads, railways and waterways in Bangladesh. The

Institute has also given the mandated function to create awareness for safety issues at

different stages of community across the country and shared acquired knowledge with the

Professionals at different levels to ensure safer transportation system.

ARI conducts appropriate training programs and workshops to develop qualified human

resources for professional capacity building and also for creating mass awareness on road

safety. In addition, ARI is expected to play major role to develop pragmatic, cost-effective

scientific solutions and bring about significant improvements in the capability of the

professionals and workers in the field of transportation to a meaningful level of expertise for

accident prevention and injury control and thereby contribute to the safer road environment

for all users and operators. ARI is also exploring the possible scopes for exchanging

knowledge and technologies through collaboration with several renowned and specialized

overseas institutions, organizations and universities etc. at local, regional and international

levels.

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Aims & Objectives

• The primary focus of the ARI will be on transport related accidents and injuries.

Eventually its scope will be broadened to encompass accidents and injuries in all

settings.

• Establish and maintain a comprehensive accident and injury database.

• Ascertain and maintain the causes of accidents and injuries and contributory factors.

• Develop accident countermeasures and safety interventions on the basis of scientific

studies and engineering knowledge.

• Monitor and evaluate road safety programs and accidents countermeasures.

• Assess economic, social and health impacts of accidents and injuries.

• Conduct high quality research on technological, behavioural and educational safety

improvement opportunities and their cost effectiveness.

• Provide training and education on accident prevention and safety technology and

management.

• Introduce and administer road safety courses leading to certificates, diplomas and

degrees (undergraduate and postgraduate levels).

• Disseminate and share the knowledge and translate them into safety policies and

practices.

• Foster safety research excellence through exchange and linkage with

institutes/organizations at regional and international levels.

• Provide advisory and expert services to the relevant organizations on the matter of

road/rail/water ways safety and safety promotions.

• Through the wider expansion of research works, eventually the Institute would turn

into a National Accident Research Institute and hopefully an Institute of Excellence

for the advancement in safety research and technology.

• In order to achieve the above, there shall be two divisions in the Institute headed by

two respective Associate Directors: (i) Research and Investigation, and (ii) Education

and Training.

Functions of Research and Investigation Division

The Research and Investigation Division will have the following functions:

• Collection and compilation of accident and injury data from various sources

• Conduct field and on-site investigation of accidents and hazardous sites

• Conduct roadside household and questionnaire surveys relating to road users,

vehicles and road environment hazards

• Develop and update accident databases and its surveillance system

• Carryout detailed analysis on accidents and injuries.

• Establish collaborative linkage for course development, trainings, capacity

building, conducting research projects, promotional campaigns and exchange of

faculties with different institutes at home and abroad.

• Initiate and formulate necessary intervention/countermeasure programs for safety

improvements.

• Carryout other safety related research and investigation programs as required by

the Institute.

Functions of the Education and Training Division

The Education and Training Division will have the following functions:

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• Develop appropriate courses and training modules for the development of qualified

human resources.

• Conduct safety related courses/training programs at various levels.

• Promote and arrange safety related promotional campaigns.

• Prepare appropriate training and promotional materials in the form of booklets,

monograms, modules, brochures, posters and newsletters.

• Publish Research Bulletins, Newsletters, Journals and Proceedings at local and

international levels.

• Library documentation and procurement of safety related research publications.

• Carryout other safety related academic and training programs as required by the

Institute.

Activities and Achievements of ARI

Accident Research Institute is multi-disciplinary research institute specializing in the study of

transport safety and accident prevention. ARI bears the responsibility to conduct in-depth

research on transportation safety problem in Bangladesh and develop countermeasures to

assist the responsible government authority as well as to improve the transport safety problem

in Bangladesh. Being congruent with the role of BUET as premier institution of technical

education and research in the country, the Research and investigation division of ARI is

devoted to incorporate state of the art of technology and knowledge regarding transport safety

engineering in the development of transport infrastructure, enhancement of education on

transport safety and provision of research facilities.

ARI’s Road Safety Research and Investigations

ARI has conducted road safety research and investigation, which are useful in documenting

the accident problem characteristics and would provide the means to develop and evaluate

effective countermeasures. Some major areas of ARI’s research and investigation include:

Road Safety

• Accident Data Collection, Database Development and Updating

• Key road safety facts and characteristics

• Identification and Treatment of Hazardous Road Locations and Accident Black Spot

Identification Program

• Investigation of Major Fatal Road Accidents and Accidents during Festival Periods

• Metropolitan street accident characteristics and safety improvements

• Road and Road side Hazards including Traffic Offences

• Involvement of Pedestrians and Children in Road Accidents

• Involvement of Drivers and their Characteristics in Road Accidents

• Heavy Vehicle Involvement in Road Accidents

• Effects of Vehicular Defects on Road Traffic Accidents

• Profiles (physio-psychological and personal) of Heavy Vehicle Drivers and Their

Behavioural Habits and Attitudes

• Investigation of the Incidence of Over-Speeding in Relation to Roadway Safety

• Road Safety Education Materials for Children

• Understanding of Road Accident Problems and Their Remedies

• Accident Spot Investigation and Road Accidents Investigation Procedures

• Development and Application of Countermeasures

• Road Safety Targets, Monitoring and Evaluation

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• Introduction and Application of Road Safety Audits

• Road safety hazards associated with bridges and culverts

• Emergency care and rescue of accident victims using GIS technology

• Estimates and analysis of costs(social and monetary) of accidents

• Community Road Safety Program

• Safety of Vulnerable Road Users (VRU)

• Post Injury/ Road Trauma Management

• Traffic Laws and Enforcement

• Road Safety Awareness and Publicity Campaign

• Route/site specific detailed analysis: Dhaka-Aricha highway corridor and the Jamuna

multipurpose bridge and its approaches

On-Going Researches:

• Level of under reporting of road traffic accidents in bangladesh

• Study on children safety

• Study on vehicle factor in road safety

• Study on problems of vehicle modification in road traffic accident

• Study on company based mass transit operation and safety

• Study on mobility and access facilities of handicapped people

• Well-being and health of dhaka city: The experiences of disable people and their

households

• Heavy vehicle drivers involvement in accident: An anthropological investigation

• Assembling vehicle manufacturing companies in Bangladesh: Present situation and

future challenges

• Performance evaluation of safety improvement measures in different highways

• Health problem of drivers

Water Transport Safety

• Accident Data Collection and Database Development

• Analysis of Inland Water Transport Accidents and Identification of Remedial

Measures

• Statistical and GIS Based Accident Analysis

• Mathematical Modeling and Simulation of Accidents: Case Study

• Development of a Collision Dynamics Model

• Fire safety of oil tankers and passenger vessels

Railway Safety

• Railway accident data collection

• Study of accidents at railway level crossings

Water Transport Accidents: The Role of ARI

Water transportation is the most efficient and relatively cheaper means of transport as Inland

Water Transport (IWT) has always been a natural, widespread and well connected network

with rest of the transport system. Moreover, it is the only mode of transport in many remote

areas because of most areas of Bangladesh remains under water for two to five months a year

due to the vulnerability of flooding. With rapid increase of population and the growing

economy of the country, waterways are getting congested despite the fact that inland

waterways are not expanded. Therefore, maritime safety related problems are emerging with

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new dimensions everyday. Maritime safety has become a severe issue when a good number

of passenger vessels capsized in quick succession and the death toll reached to thousands

within the past few years. In response such disasters, the Accident Research Institute (ARI)

took initiatives to study and comprehensive research on the underlying facts regarding water

transport safety. The primary objective of this research is to find out the root causes of

accidents and develop scientific, effective as well as realistic preventives in order to minimize

these fatal losses in tolerable limit. Prior to this research work, ARI has developed and

maintained a maritime accident database system using various sources such as Daily

newspaper, reports of Department of Shipping (DOS) and Bangladesh Inland Water

Transport Authority (BIWTA) to understand the characteristics and magnitude of this adverse

problem. The inventiveness of such database system is perhaps the very first of its kind at the

institutional level in the field of maritime of Bangladesh.

Road Safety Training and Awareness Programs:

Accident Research Institute has organized a series of events to provide a platform to share

and transfer of knowledge and experiences in road safety developments and good practices

among them training for professionals, road safety practitioners, students, cadets and scouts;

training for heavy vehicle drivers in different district level; organization of international

conference on road safety, national and regional workshops, seminars, policy discussion

meetings and rallies and established a co-operative linkage network with various

departments, institutions and organizations of Bangladesh in promoting road safety which has

creates a significant impact on policy maker, professional and academician both in local and

international level.

Accident Database Development at ARI

Availability of reliable data concerning accident and other related factors are central to

systematic scientifically based analysis of road accident situation and development of rational

countermeasures. Keeping this in mind the following data bases are created and preserved at

the Accident Research Institute (ARI):

• MAAP (Police Reported Database)

• FIR Based Data Base from Thana

• Newspaper (Major Fatal, Festival)

• Hospital (ARI is collecting Hospital Data by it’s own initiatives which require further

official support for strengthening)

• Insurance Based Accident Database

• Data from Special Organizations/Authority like Jamuna Multi-purpose Bridge

Authority (JMBA)

• Field Investigation (Accident Scene Investigation) Database

• Hazardous Road Location Investigation Database

• Database based on Questionnaire survey

• Maritime Accident Database

ARC’s Publications:

Major Publications of the Accident Research Centre include the following:

• Driving Instructor Training Manual

• Proceedings of the International Conference on Road Safety in Developing Countries

• Key Road Safety Facts

• Drivers Booklet (in Bengali)

• Road Safety Messages

• Brochure on Accident Research Centre

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Picture 2: Investigation of Accident Invloved

Vehicle by ARI Team

• Brochure over Pedestrian Safety

• ARC News Letter

• The Dhaka Declaration on Road Safety

• Recommendations for Safety Improvements in Bangladesh

SOME RECENT INITIATIVES

Accident Reconstruction

A team of ARI frequently visits accident locations to conduct in-depth investigation which

includes site-investigation, witness interview, victims’ opinion review, vehicle inspection,

road assessment & consultation with local

professionals to collect detail information

and data on a particular accident. After

synthesis and analysis of different facts the

team reconstruct the accidents to understand

the pre and post scenario of the incidences.

The core reasons behind the accidents are

identified and countermeasures are figured

out to reduce the reoccurrence of such

events. Finally a written report is prepared

for the concerned authorities to take proper

and effective measures. Recently, ARI has

conducted three such investigations on three

headline creating accidents occurred in

Korpie, Comilla; Azimpur, Dhaka; Paturia,

Manikgonj and findings has been circulated

through seminars and report submission to

the concerned authorities.

Driving Instructor’s Training Program

To develop trained and safe drivers through skilled and knowledgeable driving instructor,

ARI has initiated a series of training program titled “Driving Instructor’s Training Program"

throughout the country. The main objective of this training program is to develop

internationally competent driving instructor. ARI has already completed a seven day long

training program from 09-15 May 2010 in this regard. The program was divided into three

major sessions viz. i) Inauguration session, ii) Training session and iii) Concluding session.

The purpose of the inauguration and concluding sessions were to highlight the necessity of

the training program to the Government and administrative authorities so that necessary

follow up training programs can be arranged incorporating leaders, practitioners and

stakeholders. The effectiveness of the program as well as the performance of the trainees had

been evaluated through a comprehensive before after oral and written examinations.

Following figure illustrates the pre and post evaluation performance of the trainees.

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Figure 6: Pre and Post Evaluation Performance of Driving Instructor

Picture 3: Inaugural ceremony of Driving Instructor’s Training Program and Cover

Page of Instructor Driving Manual

Preparation of Instructor Driving Manual

ARI has prepared a comprehensive bengali driving instructor manual. The 365 pages manual

comprises 30 chapters on 10 different themes. To show the real condition and to ease the

understanding of

the relevant

topics,

significant

number of real

pictures and

visual

illustrations are

incorporated.

This book can be

used for the

driving instructor

as well as for

concerned

professionals,

transport owners

and drivers.

Police Training on Accident Event Recording and Reporting

Accident data is the primary need for accident research. If data is insufficient or incorrect the

research results will lead in the wrong direction. Bangladesh Police is the only primary

source of accident related data. Police officers fill up the accident Report Forms (ARF) and

based on those data provided in the ARFs, ARI conducts research works to identify the root

cause of accidents.

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In recent years, the quality of report forms has deteriorated extremely because lack of proper

training of the concerned police officers. Indeed, the lack of continued training and

monitoring, the level of under reporting as well as the quality of the reported data also has

been deteriorated. It is to be noted that road safety practitioners in Bangladesh, including

BRTA and Police know that road traffic accident database is neither complete nor accurate.

Since the end of the technical support by DFID to BRTA in early 2005, BRTA did not have

the zeal to continue with the training of police on collection and entry of road traffic accident

statistics.

Realizing the situation, ARI has taken an initiative to organize series of training programs for

sub-inspectors of police of different thanas. Already, the institute has trained more than 800

sub-inspectors of DMP and Dhaka range in two modules.

STRATEGIC VISION OF ARI

The Institute is Committed to Safer Transportation. In the light of achieving this goal, ARI is

conducting various researches and training activities which include accident research and

investigation, safety training and development of countermeasures and collaborative linkages.

Through the wider expansion of research works, eventually the centre would turn into a

National Accident Research Institute and hopefully a Centre of Excellence for the

advancement in safety research and technology.

The following future activities of Accident Research Institute (ARI) are particularly

envisaged:

• Offer Certificate courses, Diplomas, Masters and Ph.D degrees in different areas of

Transport Safety, Technology, Injury Prevention & Control and other relevant areas

of research.

• Preparation of Home Grown Road Safety Manual

• Develop training courses for different target groups of professionals for developing

the institutional capacity of different organisations of Bangladesh

• To conduct advanced research on technological, behavioural and educational safety

improvement opportunities and their cost effectiveness and support the policy makers

through providing recommendations.

• Disseminate and share the knowledge and translate them into safety policies and

practices.

Picture 4: Inaugural Ceremony of Police Training on Accident Event Recording and

Reporting

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• Conduct regular meeting and exchange forums in the form of conferences,

workshops, seminars of policy implications in collaboration with local, regional, and

international agencies.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

Road safety is not only a multi-dimensional but also a multi-disciplinary problem. In

order to combat the problem there is a need for close coordination and close collaboration

between all public agencies as well as private agencies using a holistic and integrated

approach across many sectors and many disciplines. Importantly, initiatives to improve the

conditions would require renewed governmental commitment and considerable resources

particularly trained local personnel, safety specialists and researchers to build up indigenous

capacity and attain sustainability of effective road safety programs. Appropriate resources

need to be allocated to improve safety which is currently far below than the magnitude of

problems.

An improved understanding of the occurrence of road traffic accidents is a necessary

prerequisite to the development and application of cost effective solutions to the accident and

injury problem. Road safety research provides such understanding and knowledge of the

problem characteristics solutions options. ARI is expected to play major role in this regard to

develop pragmatic, cost-effective scientific solutions and bring about significant

improvements in the capability of the professionals and workers in the field of transportation

to a meaningful level of expertise for accident prevention and injury control and thereby

contribute to the safer road environment for all users and operators. Efforts are underway for

integrating different organizations both at public and private sectors, civil societies,

communities and individuals towards identifying their specific roles and responsibilities and

thereby developing effective measures to tackle road safety problems. ARI is also exploring

avenues for exchanging knowledge and technologies through collaboration with an extensive

number of renowned overseas institutions, organizations and universities etc. at local,

regional and international levels.