NGO wants road humps to go

NGO wants road humps to go

By Bangalore Mirror Bureau
Posted On Monday, September 08, 2008
Transparency International India (TII) has dashed off a letter to the police demanding demolition of all road humps in the state. According to TII, a non-governmental organisation, Karnataka has earned a dubious distinction of being the only place on earth to have so many road humps, which have turned out to be killer humps.

Following the report Parent’s war on killer humps (BM, Sept 1) TII has written to Commissioner for Traffic and Road Safety and Additional Commissioner of Police, Bangalore City (traffic and road safety) to take immediate measures and save vehicle users from killer humps.

B G Koshy, the state chapter’s vice-chairman, says, “It is a wrong assumption that humps deter speed. I have visited 60 countries and nowhere have I found road humps.

Our authorities should learn from those countries as the foreign countries have found no reason to have humps despite vehicles moving there at high speeds. Moreover, there is no such thing as a scientifically designed road hump, as claimed by the authorities in India. With the traffic density being what it is, we must ensure that it keeps moving smoothly and does not get slowed down. Hence, the only solution is to demolition humps.”

The TII has also sent the copy of the letter to G M Chawan, who had filed a Right to Information Act (RTI) petition on the status of road humps after his son succumbed to an accident while negotiating a hump on the outer ring road.

According to information obtained on another RTI application (from M V Anil Kumar), there are 537 humps in BBMP limits alone