Chattogram, Bangladesh – April 30, 2024: In collaboration with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety (BIGRS), the Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) and Vital Strategies, organized the 2nd Road Safety Journalism Workshop on April 30, 2024, at a restaurant in the city. A total of 18 journalists from different media outlets participated in this workshop.
Mr. Gias Uddin, Panel Mayor, CCC spoke at the closing session as the chief guest. In his speech, he highlighted the urgent need for action to reduce and prevent road crashes to ensure road safety in Chattogram city. He stressed the importance of public awareness campaigns and enforcement of traffic laws to address the growing challenges posed by road safety.
Among others, Mr. Masud Ahmed, Additional Commissioner (traffic), Chattogram Metropolitan Police, Mr. Atique, Assistant Director, Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA) and Suganthi Saravanan, Program Officer of Vital Strategies-Singapore office also spoke at the closing session. This session chaired by Eng. Shahin Ul Islam Chowdhury, Chief Engineer of CCC and moderated by Mr. Labib Tazwan Utshab, Initiative Coordinator of BIGRS-Chattogram. At the end, chief guest handed over the certificates to the journalists.
This workshop focuses on “Speeding as a Risk Factor, Data and Solutions Journalism”. Dr. Syed Mahfuzul Huq, National Professional Officer – NCD, WHO Bangladesh highlighted the global road safety scenario from the WHO Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023 in the workshop. Ms. Shirin Wadhaniya, Research Associate and Mr. Zabir Hosen, Assistant Scientist at the John Hopkins International Injury Research Unit-JHIIRU, USA discussed on data sources for road traffic crashes, injuries and deaths. Ms. Farzana Islam Toma, Consultant of World Resources Institute-WRI discussed the importance of design perspective for road safety. Mr. Kazi Md. Shifun Newaz, Surveillance Coordinator, BIGRS shared road crash data from Chattogram Road Safety Report 2020-2022. Aminul Islam Sujon, Technical Adviser, Vital Strategies, and Md. Mahamudul Hasan (communications officer of BIGRS) discussed on solution journalism, importance of communication and mass media campaign. Mr. Ezequiel Dantas (Zaca), Deputy Director and Miric Pala, Senior Technical Adviser from the Surveillance team at Vital Strategies spoke on the importance of data towards taking policy initiatives to ensure road safety at this workshop.
It is noted that Road Traffic Injury (RTI) remains a significant cause of death and disability in world, with approximately 1.19 million lives lost each year due to road traffic crashes, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO) in the ‘Global Status Report on Road Safety 2023’. On the other hand, Chattogram Road Safety Report 2020-22 jointly published by CCC and CMP reports 263 road crash fatalities in the city between 2020 to 22. It also identified 10 most risky road corridors and spots in the city, where evidence-based intervention is needed to ensure safety.
The workshop was inaugurated by Eng. Shahin Ul Alam Chowdhury, Chief Engineer, Chattogram City Corporation.
