Indian Road Congress guidelines not being followed
Despite complaints over years, Bengalureans are still struggling with unmarked and poorly designed speed breakers. They want BBMP to take action to avoid more accidents.
Poornesh N, a student of the RV College of Engineering, Mysuru Road, informed The Observer: “Unpainted speed breakers have been a major issue for the city for decades, and it’s so in almost all parts of Bengaluru.”
According to Indian Road Congress guidelines, speed breakers should be painted with alternate black and white bands to give a visual warning. For better visibility at night, the markings should be in luminous paint or strips.
But citizens say these guidelines aren’t being followed.
“Not just their bad quality, the speed breakers are barely visible at night because of the lack of high reflection paints,” complained Poornesh, who regularly commutes via Mysuru Road.
Sri Narayan, deputy commissioner of police, traffic, East, said: “We have been trying to work on the issue for a while now. We have warned the Traffic Engineering Cell of BBMP, which is responsible for the construction of speed breakers in the city, several times. Necessary action is being taken.”
Non-compliance with the guidelines on humps has led to several road accidents in the past. As per the Road Accident Report 2019, out of the total 4,49,002 accidents in the country, more than 40,000 took place in Karnataka, putting it among the top five states with the most road accidents.
From among the 11,000-odd deaths caused by bad speed breakers every year, most are from Karnataka.
Gautam Udupa, another citizen, said: “White marking as per traffic rules will ensure caution and reduce speeding of vehicles. Unmarked humps are not visible and can cause injury and damage to vehicles.”
Deepesh Swamy, a traffic inspector, said: “This is the most common issue raised by citizens over the years. More than 40 per cent of road accidents are due to bad/illegal speed breakers.”
However, M.V. Srinivas, executive engineer, special division of Traffic Engineering Cell, BBMP said the corporation is working on the issue and has managed to rectify several humps in western Bengaluru.
The IRC guidelines also mandate that two signboards, one 20-30 meters away and another 10 meters away from a hump, should be placed to caution drivers. The sign should have a definition plate with the words ‘SPEED BREAKER’ inscribed thereon. It should be located 40 meters ahead of the first speed breaker.
Nishchith A, a resident of Mylasandra, said: “BBMP should put signboards as an alert for the speed breakers 50 meters before a speed hump; these will help drivers and riders to slow down and avoid disruptions.”
Badly designed speed breakers on Outer Ring Road have been a major complaint of Bengalureans. “The worst of all speed breakers of the city are on ORR,” he added. They cause several accidents.
The IRC guidelines clarify that speed breakers should be formed on minor roads and in residential areas and not on arterial roads, but citizens allege there are several unnecessary speed breakers on Nagarabhavi main road. The 146-km-long Mysuru Road has unnecessary road humps that are in a bad condition.
“Anyone who’s not regular commuter on Mysuru Road will not be able to see these unmarked speed breakers, which are a major reason for most of road accidents,” said Poornesh.
In 2017, the Karnataka government sanctioned Rs 2 crore to the BBMP Traffic Engineering Cell to build new speed breakers and high-rise pedestrian crossings. A part of the funding was to be used to repair unscientifically designed bumps.
