THE failure of automation attempts in Dhaka鈥檚 traffic management is both worrying and symptomatic of a broader inertia in urban governance. Despite repeated investments in automatic solutions, the city remains dependent on the manual traffic policing. The latest example is the automated traffic signalling system, launched only a month ago on a trial basis at seven crossings, which has already degenerated into a display without functional authority. Installed with the aim of reducing congestion and introducing predictability to road users, the signals now operate in parallel with manual direction, producing confusion rather than efficiency. Drivers still defer to police officers along Kazi Nazrul Islam Avenue, stretching across a strategic corridor from Shikkha Bhaban to the airport, even when lights turn green. This shows that technology has not translated into trust. Pedestrians, too, testify to their reluctance in relying on signals. The Dhaka Transport Coordination Authority insists that the system requires time for users to adjust to, yet such optimism appears thinly stretched when placed against earlier automation initiatives 鈥� countdown timers, digital boards, solar panels, remote controls and even so-called 鈥榠ntelligent鈥� systems 鈥� that have all lapsed into irrelevance.
The present faltering of the trial signals cannot be read in isolation because it repeats a cycle in which automation is introduced with enthusiasm only to falter against the lived realities of Dhaka鈥檚 roads. Earlier initiatives promised to modernise traffic control but were eventually rendered ineffective by technical breakdowns, poor maintenance lack of integration and, above all, the absence of public trust. What is missing is not merely the hardware but a holistic approach that accounts for the behavioural patterns of drivers, the unpredictability of public demonstrations, the intensity of pedestrian flows and the institutional weaknesses of city authorities. Without addressing the fundamental challenges, the installation of further machines across the 22 crossings on this arterial corridor risks becoming another costly showpiece. A sustainable solution requires both engineering and sociology: sustained public education campaigns to familiarise citizens with signals, robust maintenance regimes to prevent collapse at the first breakdown, legal reinforcement so that drivers are compelled to comply and inter-agency coordination so that police, transport regulators and municipal bodies act in concert. Only when technology is embedded within such a systemic framework can automation hope to achieve credibility.
Authorities should, therefore, treat the current trial not as an end in itself but as a starting point for comprehensive reform. Installing machines without ensuring behavioural change, enforcement and maintenance will only add to Dhaka鈥檚 long list of failed experiments. Automated signals should be integrated with strict compliance, sustained public education and institutional coordination. Only then can the city move beyond symbolic gestures and towards a credible system of traffic management that serves its citizens effectively.