[gkveda]

Originally Posted by click

Instead of Speedbreakers, if they install cctv and speed cameras on most roads most of the speeding nuisance will reduce without breaking car suspensions. Before anyone says costs, think about your own street itself and I am sure that you will agree that any cost would be recovered within few months if not in the first itself.

Number of people driving/riding on the wrong side, speeding, double parking, etc...all can be handled with use of technology. Not unregulated speedbreakers.

I think camera can only help to catch law breakers and fine them but cannot reduce accidents.

Speed breakers can reduce accidents by making people reducing speeds.

No substitute for speed breakers in India

[lamborghini]

I'm all for properly planned speed breakers in dense areas, but there are a few basics:

1) Plan properly! One road near my house has 3 big speed breakers located 50M - 100M apart! One could have done the job!
Similarly, on another road they've put 3 rubber breakers at the bottom of a slope, where the road turns right - I am sure you'll can imagine how messy it can be.
Nearly got rear ended last night, with some road rage thrown in for slowing down for them - I was like Buddy - bad driver's like you are the reason we have to suffer them in the first place. I am not going to ruin my car because you like how the seats vibrate when you fly over them in your rattle-trap.

2) Size it properly! Thanks to the speed breakers around my house, planning the route / car is critical to avoid scraping the under-belly. Big dilemma on the upgrade thread for me as all the options I like have poor GC

3) Make sure they are marked : Nothing more annoying than an unmarked speed breaker where you least expect it. On the way to Goa, once we take the turn from Nipani and are on the Amboli Ajra route : there are several unmarked bad speed breakers just when the roads finally become good!

[RGK]

My simple question is if we are inculcated to follow the prescribed speed limits at all times from day one, do we really require speed breakers.

[ArTigor]

I have been involved with Pedestrianisation projects & Road Design in a few cities in India hence can contribute a few bits here on Speed Breakers. Speed breakers serve 2 purpose, one being speed reduction from a vehicle point of view where passive designs like painted rumblers also are used. The other aspect being pedestrian safety.

1 Most of the speed breakers are wrongly designed and placed on Indian roads.
An ideal speed breaker should actually be a gentle 'Hump' and not a dreadful 'Bump', this is not as per what I say, but actually the Code as per Indian Road Congress. The following is a citation from an article "According to IRC guidelines, a speed breaker should have a radius of 17m with a width of 3.7m and height of 0.1m. It is calculated to reduce the speed of vehicle to 25kmph. Organisations like Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) have also come up with a code for speed breakers at various junctions." Source(https://www.hindustantimes.com/pune-...us%20junctions.)
When I was involved in multiple pedestrianisation projects in Ahmedabad, Nashik, Mumbai & Bengaluru, we found out that anywhere between 70-80% speed breakers are wrongly designed on the roads.

2 What accounts for wrong design?
a)Wrong Width & Height combination,
b)Wrong location
These are majorly the two most common mistakes that contribute to the wrong design of speed breakers.

3 Why does this happen? The answer is that most of the Implementing authorities/professionals are themselves unaware of such norms, and in many cases are reluctant to get it done rightly as that will require constant supervision of contractors work. Being involved in these projects I can tell you contractor is the king, and no one tells the contractor what has to be done!
In come cities the Table to type Speedbreaker-Crossing have been implemented illogically.

4 Category of road and Interval of speed breakers.
Generally Speed breakers are to be avoided and not allowed(unless geometrical design constrain) on the following roads: National Highways, State Highways, Arterial roads(urban) as these roads cater to through traffic with high vehicular speed. Basically grade separated pedestrian crossing structures have to be provided at Pedestrian - Vehicular conflict points for these category of roads, unless the volume is very low.
The Moment you are on a Sub arterial, Collector or Local street(All urban) which are supposed to have traffic speeds between 50 to 30 kmph respectively the speed breaker intervals are quite frequent. because these roads have more Pedestrian traffic and by globally accepted ethics, pedestrian has the priority Right of Way and in India Speed Breakers are 'the' only thing that provides Safe Right of Way. Unfortunately they are not implemented right.

5 In countries with better driving sense drivers respect & follow the mere markings on road to slow down for example the zigzag marking on either side of lane commonly seen in UK (might be in other countries too but which I am unaware of).

6 In India a rogue/ignorant motorist driving at a high speed on local and Collector roads is of a much great danger considering the population and densities on street even in non peak hours. Hence Speed Breakers are a necessity especially considering the driving discipline of most of us, I must admit in my early college days with all that warm blood and 'josh' even I was a ignorant to driving discipline.

7 I have travelled in Bengaluru(city of speed breakers) for many assignments and fortunately my travelling within city used to be during non-peak hours. I have been in situation where cabbies were driving rashly at night despite those speed breakers. Generally most of us travel during the peak hours in urban limits, and I agree that during peak hour with already slow moving traffic the speed breakers(ill designed) become troublesome, yet think of it from a non peak hour & pedestrian perspective things start looking justified.

8 In Mumbai there is another issue, due to bad urban planning and real estate forces, Higher FSI & Commercial Usage is allotted to plots having access from literally 12 meter wide road which is basically a local street category, which in return shall have traffic at 30-40 kmph(as per design and code). Now what happens is, the traffic volume these streets carry is on par with Sub-arterial roads. But being a Local road it needs to have speed breakers at frequent intervals as per codes, but we tend to forget it and keep on using the road as if it is a Sub Arterial road(expectations in term of speed), that is precisely where one starts getting irritated.

In a nutshell as a driver we are at the receiving end of a chain which comprises of a bigger mess.

Example of good Speed Breakers:-



Example of bad Speed Breakers:-

In addition to these there are innumerable narrow and tall monstrosity available in our cities.

[Vibhanshu]

I am in favor of speed breakers. I'm Mumbai, I saw local guys speeding on their KTMs etc in backroads of Lokhandwala. A daily sight. And many other places where overspending needs to be curbed. India is definitely not ready for no speadbreakers culture.

BUT - what I do challenge though is the placement and implementation of those speed breakers. That's where stupidity really shines.

Mumbai
- As original post, in suburbs (I lived in Oshiwara), speed breakers are at every 50 to 100 meters.
- The speed breakers are just before or at the signal. This one drove me crazy every freaking time.
- Speed breakers are designed for 20 wheeler trucks.

I moved to Bangalore last year and here it's even more hilarious:
- Speed breakers before a T junction (what for, I slowed down anyway).
- My society has a no-divider-road in front and vehicles do speed a lot here. And there are 6 big societies in a row. ZERO speed breakers. Risky for kids and senior citizens. Heck, even I am afraid at times with water tankers overtaking autos at over 60 mph in a 15 feet wide road. Plain stupidity.
- Speed breakers are carefully color matched to road. No painting. You cannot see it at night before it's too late.

1. Fix the road quality (a different thread perhaps).
2. Carefully place speed breakers to really curb speed at right areas.

PS: We can do it. At world sea face road (Mumbai), there is a red light only for pedestrians crossing. And good discipline by drivers to stop for pedestrians. And people follow it.

[amitayu]

Why spend extra resources to build speed breakers, when the sure to come potholes already serves the same purpose?

I think it will be more economical to simply build roads; the inherent poor quality of Indian roads is a Laissez Faire system that develops its own speed control mechanism with increase in traffic!

[LONG_TOURER]

Having Speed breaker on road is not a problem, the problem are the people who makes them. I dont think India has any Standard provision for construction of speed breakers on public roads. Road Contractors make humps according to their wish and do not care about the vehicles which will pass over them in due course. I have seen speed breakers where a high ground clearance SUV would also scrape its belly. I think its high time government of India brings a law which standardise the construction of speed breakers that will be effective in eliminating overspeeding as well as chance of underbody scraping.

[vishwasvr]

I am all for scientifically designed stuff. Speed breakers included! But what I loathe and really detest is poorly designed speed breakers which actually cause more damage than avoid! I've faced this terrible issue of my Ducati MTS 1260s's exhaust come undone at least 5 times in less than a year! All thanks to a foot high piece of monstrosity!

[mvadg]

Originally Posted by amitayu

Why spend extra resources to build speed breakers, when the sure to come potholes already serves the same purpose?

I think it will be more economical to simply build roads; the inherent poor quality of Indian roads is a Laissez Faire system that develops its own speed control mechanism with increase in traffic!

I suggested we switch to bullock carts earlier, but that would be absolutely revolting for a rising superpower. Instead, I suggest the government pass a law to limit vehicle speed to 20 kmph at the manufacturer end.

A better solution would be a combination of virtual speedbreakers and electronically enforced speed limits. Within the city, the remote controlled ECU would obey speed limits and at virtual speedbreakers it would force the vehicle to slow to a stop. I don't understand why the government does not enforce an app like MENTOR on every driver in India. Police in the United States (and other countries) have proposed remote controlled ECU to disable vehicles used by lawbreakers.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/12/amaz...y-drivers.html


https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-ne...-stop-your-car

European police forces are working on a universal remote stopping system to be fitted to cars, according secret documents.

Police would be able to bring cars involved in high-speed chases to a halt remotely removing the need for the current dangerous and unsafe methods such as spiking car tyres.

The technology could be ready as early as 2020 and it would allow criminals on the run to be stopped at the click of a button from an officer working in a central headquarters.

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/Auto...3706113&page=1

The system, scheduled to be demonstrated Tuesday in Washington, D.C., marks a big move toward reducing what GM says are as many as 9,600 pursuits around the country every year. Up to 400 people die in accidents involving chases, according PursuitWatch.org, an activist group.

"Anytime you have the ability to shut down a dangerous pursuit, that's a win for everyone," says Geoffrey Alpert, criminology professor at the University of South Carolina.

Our government could also limit top speed the same way, VIP vehicles, like those of government employees, politicians, police, etc, etc, would be exempt, of course! A perfect dystopian future!

[PrasannaDhana]

Speed breakers are essential. Period. There are so many fools who think they are invincible and never bother to slow down at intersections.

Without speed breakers, the number of fatalities daily would go up by 50% more than usual in a vast, highly populated country like ours.

I don't care slowing down, wasting time and fuel because of speed breakers. Only thing I hate about them is when they are unmarked and merge beautifully with tree shadows on the road that er get off guard and our suspension curses us for that.

And also the ones that are designed idiotically tall. Who wants to drive over a 15 cm tall speed breaker? Such overly large speed breakers are the reason why sedans are dying and ugly compact SUVs are ruling the monthly sales charts.

[justwheels]

I personally feel the issue is not speedbreakers, the issue is planning. Unfortunately our society has been proud of jugaads all along it's existence and unfortunately we have learnt to plan by putting band aids to problems. Speedbreaks are one such band aid solutions we have developed.

We see congestion on a crossing we build flyovers, only to shift the clogging to the next junction. We see fast moving vehicles on road, we build speedbreakers. If only people thought about flow of traffic and inflow and outflow, you will realise both serve no purpose if ill planned.

We need speedbreakers, yes, near hospitals, schools, junctions, but more importantly we need traffic flow sorted. And I don't see that happening so long live pseudo SUVs and high GC cars.

[pugram]

Speed breakers are there to stay, no 2 doubts about it.

The only issue is the design. They have to consider the type of speed reduction to be done and design accordingly.

Often I wonder how the axles of heavy trucks handle these without breaking under stress.

In Tamilnadu a hue and cry was raised when a politicians son died due to an accident and it was reasoned that the accident occurred due to the unscientific design of the same. Lesson learnt but not implemented.

How difficult is it for them to create a template for dimensions check. A template that can be placed on the hump to ascertain that it is built to that specifications. The PWD or HIghways dept just creates humps based on intuition.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

My perspective:

What everyone s cribbing about is the number of speed-breakers on the daily drive route, an unscientific back-breaking process rather than a car slowing process.

If you are on a daily route, you would know exactly the dynamics of the road and manage the speeds based on your capability. What happens when I go out to an unknown territory? I don't know the road, whether there is a school/crossing/basti (village/settlement/gate) at a particular point. I don't know where the road suddenly turns narrow. I don't know whether, beyond the blind spots, the other drivers can be coming at breakneck speeds. So speed breakers exist for people who are not familiar with the road and to prevent that moment where we get the itch to floor the pedal just to hit the red line. That one time may be enough to have a precious moment on the road.

That said, let us come to the scientific part. Few of the parameters that should go into the design of the speedbreakers:

1. Avg speed of vehicles without speed breaker
2. Target speed of vehicles with speed breaker
3. Space available for the speedbreaker

As speed breaker manufacturers/designers, there is absolutely no value to the human damage associated with the impact. So unless we as a nation do R&D of speed breaker desginers to prove that bad speedbreaker cause economic loss of value, and ensure that the government pays extra from our for preserving your back can be an open question to all the tax/roadtaxpayers of our country!

[MadinMumbai]

Most of you posting here, and defending the speed breaker, are missing the larger point I made.

As a nation we are always going to struggle when our idea of regulation is a speed breaker. There is a fundamental flaw in our thinking because we think a speed breaker or a restrictive measure will fix any problems. All we do is trade one set of problems for another set (probably larger)of problems.

Any solutions have to be positive affirmations. Restrictive or negative affirmations only contribute to more chaos. Carrot and stick is a way that works. First comes the carrot and then you can put a scare by bringing a stick in. Just a stick all the time and soon you're flogging a dead donkey. And if you don't believe me just look around at the state of our roads, the state of our traffic and the state of our cities. If ever there was a dog's breakfast our road system is it. And no matter how many speed breakers you put in you're not fixing it.

[epijay]

Originally Posted by MadinMumbai

It’s my firm belief that India will never break out of its 2nd gear growth potential unless we scrap the concept of ‘speedbreaker’. The speedbreaker applies to much more than just the road. The humble bump is a deeply entrenched part of our psyche. It is a metaphor for all things plaguing India. The authority we have handed over to random people to put speed blocks in our way extends far beyond the roads.

Take the example of Mumbai. I live in the suburbs where it is impossible to find 100 meters of straight stretch of road. In this environment, where cars are crawling anyway, we have a perpetual roadworks/underground cable/ water pipeline/ sewage works to ensure it, the residents feel compelled to put up speedbreakers every few meters. Petitions are made on WhatsApp groups to build more. I don’t know what the thinking is- is it to slow down already crawling traffic? Or is it display of power?

A few years ago I read that the High Court had ordered removal of speedbreakers. I don’t remember the exact reasons the mighty court took up such an insignificant subject for consideration, I suspect it had more to do with passage of Ganpati idols than concern for safety. We applauded, but didn’t contend with the metaphorical speedbreaker that would hit implementation of the order. Since then the court has lost interest in the subject, the local ward councillor has taken it upon himself to order more and more speedbreakers and our motorists have become positively Gandhian by presenting the other cheek.

If the problem were restricted to motorists one could be forgiven for ignoring their whining. Rich guys is expensive cars deserve a little speedbreaker love. Schadenfreude. But lately I have seen many runners tumble on unmarked speedbreakers that have come up overnight. Surely the runners don’t deserve the disdain, especially the barefoot ones who can’t be said to be wearing expensive Nike, we have for motorists.

So, the question is - how do we get out of this self inflicted circle of stupidity? How do we break free from the speedbreaker? Surely someone is government or legal system can be petitioned. Surely we can make them see the deep connection between our economic, social and physical existence and the omnipotent metaphorical speedbreaker.

During a recent round trip of 3000 kms, I got very philosophical about speedbreakers and their placement. Speedbreakers are often placed on the throughway. If at all speed breakers are to be used, they should be placed on the feeder road and not the main road. It should be a cautionary reminder for drivers approaching a main thoroughfare. Instead, free flowing traffic is interrupted by this odd placement of speedbreakers. Nitin Gadhkari, are you listening?