Ranapriya Barua
Bangladesh

"After taking this course, I have introduced a few initiatives for safe pedestrian crossing. This course is very important for transportation engineers who want to work for road safety issues."

While working as a Transportation Engineer, Ranapriya Barua participated in the online course Road Safety. Read about his experience.

What was your motivation for enrolling in this course/program?
I am a superintending engineer in the Roads and Highways Department in Bangladesh. My responsibilities include the construction of new roads as well as maintaining existing roads. As transportation engineers, it is our duty to ensure that roads are safe for road users. However, road accidents occur frequently in our country. Most of the time people block highways after massive accidents. So, as an engineer I have keen interest in reducing road accidents. For this reason, I wanted a short course about road safety. I took this course for my personal development as well as to do something for society so that road accidents can be contained to a tolerable limit.

How did/will this course impact your career or life?
From my perspective, constructing safe roads and safe pedestrian crossings are the most valuable contents of this course. I know the key features, how to construct a safe road and safe pedestrian crossing which are the most vital things in our country to curb road accidents. From statistics we know that 57% of pedestrians died from road accidents. So, we need a sharp focus on safe pedestrian crossings. After taking this course, I have introduced a few initiatives for safe pedestrian crossing. For example, building footbridges over the road in front of schools; provided necessary signage; painting zebra-crossings for pedestrians. Besides this, to avoid head-on collisions, we have set up two plus one lanes in a most important corridor with proper road marking. Moreover, we try to improve some black spots with establishing proper warning signs, guideposts and lane marking. I think this course is very important for transportation engineers who want to work for road safety issues like me.

How was your experience of learning online?
I liked the video presentations best. I believe review is the most beneficial to learning and the assignment was the most challenging. I think the quality of the content is very good, but your full interaction is needed for the best outcomes.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking of taking a similar course?
I would like to say "be attentive" to anyone who is thinking of taking a similar course.