56 unauthorised speed breakers razed
THE INDIAN ROADS CONGRESS STATES THAT DISTANCE BETWEEN 2 SPEED BREAKERS SHOULD BE AT LEAST 300 M
MUMBAI: After conducting a survey, the Mumbai traffic police destroyed 56 unauthorised speed breakers across the city which were built without following the guidelines.
After HT wrote a report highlighting problems in the last mile connectivity to business hubs in the city, Anil Kumbhare, joint commissioner of police (Traffic), asked his staff to report the reasons/problems faced by the commuters in their jurisdictions.
According to Kumbhare, they received several inputs from constables manning traffic across the city that there were several unauthorized speedbreakers, which were adding to the traffic congestion. “There were several speed breakers which were not constructed according to the guidelines of the Indian Roads Congress (IRC),” said Kumbhare.
After the survey, the police made a list of the unwanted speed breakers apart from the areas where schools were located and asked the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to demolish them.
“We had observed that on Andheri-kurla Road itself, there were 26 speed breakers at a distance of 200 metres, which affected traffic flow,” said Kumbhare.
“The survey will continue, and we will see to it that unauthorized speed breakers do not come up,” added Kumbhare. The official said there are severe health concerns for commuters due to damaged and unplanned speed breakers, “Most of the speed breaks were constructed by the suggestion of a local politician or society members,” he added.
Experts said that the Indian
Roads Congress has suggested that speed breakers are formed basically by providing a rounded hump (of 17-meter radius) of 3.7-meter width and 0.10-meter length, and the distance between two speed-breakers should be at least 300 meters.
“The authorities do not do any technical study before building a speed breaker and just construct it because there is a demand, without considering whether it is required,” said a traffic expert.
A traffic police official said, “Speed breakers do help in slowing down traffic and reducing high-speed crashes, but an illegal speed breaker can be dangerous and can cause crashes and loss of life.”