Excessive road humps has increased the number of accidents in the city, say Bangaloreans.
Bangalore, April 9, 2018: Speed breakers without white stripes are a menace to drivers and riders as they are difficult to locate and have led to various accidents across the city.
R Hitendra, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic said, “It is difficult to judge road accidents on the basis of road humps.”
“Yes, the road humps lack white marking due to which people cannot avoid it and this might lead to an accident, but we cannot solely blame speed breakers for accidents. Some roads have excessive humps while the others don’t have any.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) should be responsible for it and take actions, which they don’t”, he added.
The Home Department’s Resolution, published by the Indian government to formulate the rules and regulations to set up speed breakers states that speed breakers can be placed in urban areas for minor roads and residential areas. They are not recommended for highways or high-speed roads.
The other provisions mentioned in the Resolution mandate the setting up of speed breakers in the T-intersection of minor roads, in the intersection of minor and major roads and in residential areas near schools, colleges and universities where it is difficult to judge the movement of people.
Raghunandan, a resident of Jayanagar said, “The speed breaker at R.V.College road is really high and every time I go over it, my car chassis hits the road.”
Praveen Lingaiah, Executive Engineer, Traffic, BBMP, said, “We are applying white stripes to the arterial roads and sub-arterial roads. The problem is that in the city it is very difficult to sustain these paints because of the pollution, traffic and rains, but we are trying to ensure every major road has these white stripes”, adding that the budget for each zone within the city limits is Rs 3 crore while for the outskirts of the city the budget is Rs 2 crore.
“The issue of road humps is not mainly seen in city it’s in the wards that it is very evident. The roads in the wards are maintained by corporators and they have enough funds to maintain it, but they don’t do it, the speed breakers are not scientifically built in these places,” he added.
Rama Prasad, a resident of Devaiah Park, complained that she injured her hand after her vehicle skidded off on a road hump which she couldn’t see.
Anirban, Urban Planning Expert has said that the road hump in the city is basically a design and maintenance issue. “The road is designed not to have a median or road hump, but the government has decided to install road humps, which is affecting the geometry of the road,” said Anirban.
