THE photograph that New Age published on May 8 shows two students risking their lives as they cross the damaged deck of a footbridge on the College Road between the Fazlul Haque Muslim Hall and the Poet Sufia Kamal Hall in the University of Dhaka. The image is alarming not only because of the decay of the structure but also because it reflects negligence towards pedestrian safety. The bridge, located in one of the busiest academic zones of the university, is in regular use by hundreds of students every day. Yet, despite the likely danger the broken wooden planks and unstable walking surface pose, the authorities appear to have allowed the bridge to remain in use without immediate repairs, restrictions or alternative arrangements. Such neglect normalises unsafe public infrastructure and shifts the burden of survival onto people who continue using dangerous facilities out of necessity. In a densely populated city where pedestrians already face daily risks from reckless traffic, encroached footpath and inadequate crossings, the existence of unsafe pedestrian infrastructure even within a university campus shows how deeply embedded infrastructural indifference has become in public administration.
Pedestrian safety research in Dhaka and other dense South Asian cities shows that infrastructure alone does not ensure safe behaviour. Risk emerges from the interaction between design quality, enforcement and human adaptation. Studies by the Accident Research Institute suggests that pedestrians account for more than half of urban traffic fatalities in Dhaka, with many deaths occurring during road crossings in areas lacking protected facilities or proper separation from motorised vehicles. Even where pedestrian infrastructure exists, use remains inconsistent as behavioural studies find that people often avoid footbridges because of inconvenience, poor maintenance or the perception that they take more time. Transport safety studies suggest that when pedestrian facilities are poorly designed, inaccessible or visibly deteriorating, users tend to choose the shortest and most direct routes, even when these increase exposure to danger. In dense environment such as the University of Dhaka, this tendency is intensified by time pressure between classes, heavy footfall and limited alternative routes. Behavioural research further shows that risk perception is shaped more by immediate visual cues such as broken structures or crowd behaviour than by abstract knowledge of danger. From a systems perspective, this becomes what planners describe as ‘forced risk normalisation.’ Over time, design failure and behavioural adaptation reinforce each other.
The authorities should treat this as an urgent safety failure rather than routine decay. Immediate repair of the footbridge, along with regular structural inspection across campus infrastructure, is essential. Safe, accessible alternatives should be ensured during maintenance. Long-term planning should prioritise pedestrian safety as a core design principle, not an afterthought, to prevent avoidable risks from becoming normalised.
