Time to dump road humps, say experts

BBMP sets out levelling unscientifically built speed breakers following letter from Home MinisterThe BBMP is taking Home Minister V S Acharya's observation on badly constructed speed breakers rather seriously.The minister held the breakers responsible for several fatal accidents and wrote to the civic body, asking them to either mend or flatten unsafe speed breakers that do not conform to the stipulations of the Indian Road Congress (IRC). The unscientifically built humps on the city roads cause severe problems to motorists.Replacement driveThis is not something new. We have been removing speed breakers that have not been built scientifically in consultation with residents for some time now. In fact, BBMP as well as traffic police representatives are expected to be present when the humps are constructed. We are replacing unscientific road humps with proper ones, explained Gopalaswamy, engineer-in-chief, BBMP.Experts say there are over 20,000 speed-breakers in the city.Not requiredActually humps are not required at all. The Indian Road Congress decided that there should not be any humps on main roads.It is good that the BBMP has begun removing humps on main roads that are not built with scientific specifications in mind.u00a0I hope they also remove ones in residential neighbourhoods as well, said traffic expert M N Sreehari.Jagadish a motorist said, One night, when I was riding my two-wheeler near R T Nagar, I noticed the unpainted hump on the road too late.I braked but it was too late.I fell from my bike and injured my face hands and legs and it took me Rs 10,000 and couple of months of bed rest to mend the damage. I spent around ten thousand andu00a0 a couple to recover.This reporter could not contact Home Minsiter VS Acharya despite repeated attempts.20,000Approximate number of road humps in the city Facts about road humps > Road humps should be a perfect parabola with 12 to 15 cm rise in the centre and should be 3.5 m covering the entire length of the road > They should be located not more than three metre from the junction towards the cross road> A hump should only be at places on stretches where there is adequate lighting and it should be visible to motorists > Speed-breakers should also be marked with V-shape stripes to differentiate them from zebra crossings