Unscientific road humps to go

Unscientific road humps to go

The Hindu

Apart from slowing down traffic, some have become hazardous: study

# Many road humps causing accidents instead of preventing them
# Several located in poorly lit streets
# Two-wheelers cannot not safely pass over many of them
# Some of the speed-breakers could not be painted over with white stripes
# Road humps should be 10 to 12 cm high and not more than 1.7 metres wide



Stumbling block: Some road humps in the city cannot be painted, making it difficult for motorists to spot them even during the day. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

BANGALORE: More than 650 speed-breakers, or road humps, will either be removed from city roads or replaced by more scientifically-designed ones over the next few weeks.

The Road Safety Council comprising officials of the Transport Department, the city police, the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation, the National Highways Authority of India and traffic engineering experts have identified these speed-breakers at various locations.

Apart from slowing down traffic far beyond safety requirements, some of these road humps have also become traffic hazards.

Difficult to spot

Many speed-breakers were found located in poorly lit streets where drivers could not spot them in time and had to brake suddenly, risking collision with vehicles following them.

Some of the road humps were so big that two-wheelers could not safely pass over them. Others are located too close to others and served little purpose, the experts found during the study.

Some of the speed-breakers which are being scrapped were found to be designed in such a way they could not be painted over with white stripes for easy visibility. Others were too wide and did not match the road width.

Recommendations

According to best practices recommended by the Indian Road Congress, speed-breakers are not necessary on city roads because almost every road junction has traffic signals or after late night, blinking cautionary yellow lights, unlike the highways.

Speed breakers may be necessary only near schools or hospitals, the IRC has said. On highways and semi-rural roads, rumble strips are preferred to humps.

Specifications

According to IRC specifications, road humps should be 10 to 12 cm high and not more than 1.7 metres wide.

They should be built to make the transition to the road ahead smooth and possible without sudden braking and changing of gears; the idea is to slow down fast-moving traffic and not cause the vehicle to stop altogether.

Traffic Engineering expert M.N. Sreehari, a member of the Road Safety Council, has said many speed-breakers are causing accidents instead of preventing them.

There have been instances of large humps barely four metres away from each other and despite such lapses being pointed out, not much action had been taken till now.

More scientific planning of road humps takes into account parameters such as the reaction time of drivers, visibility of the speed-breaker from a specific distance, friction, gradient, and transition time from the hump to the road ahead.

Since these parameters are not being followed, the city has a large number of speed-breakers which do not confirm to the regulations laid down by the road council.

While some of the older speed breakers are to be done away with since they are not needed, others will be rebuilt. All of them are to be given light reflectors and painted with diagonal white stripes, which are to be repainted at regular intervals.

The practice of residents associations in some neighbours building their on road humps will be discouraged.