[TusharK]

In response to an RTI, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has clarified that construction of rumblers and speed breakers has been banned on National Highways.



Nikhil Desai of Ponda, Goa, had submitted an RTI query highlighting the inconvenience caused by speed breakers to patients travelling in ambulances.

“Keeping in mind the inconvenience to patients travelling in ambulances while erecting rumblers on national highway?”, Desai said in his RTI application dated February 21, 2023.



In response, the NHAI said, “There are no guidelines to erecting rumblers on NHs. In this regard, specific instructions have been issued to all Project Directors for removal of speed breakers from all NH stretches and ensuring patchless roads for road users (including ambulances).”

According to a 2016 circular from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, speed breakers should not be constructed on national highways as they defeat the basic objective of providing an obstruction-free high-speed facility, apart from being a safety hazard.

In 2020, the ministry reiterated that all speed breakers on National Highways would be removed, including those at toll booths.

Thanks to Nikhil Desai for sending this image in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Link to Team-BHP News

[PearlJam]

Unfortunately, more than 4 years after the original circular, we still have some nasty rumblers in the Bangalore-Hassan stretch and also the Bangalore-Hubbali stretch. And of course, most toll booths still have terrible speed breakers.

I'm sure the same situation persists across other National Highways in the country, since most of the time, local situations (like what the surrounding town people want) would dictate what is implemented, rather than what's mentioned in the guidelines.

[bobbyblr]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Unfortunately, more than 4 years after the original circular, we still have some nasty rumblers in the Bangalore-Hassan stretch and also the Bangalore-Hubbali stretch. And of course, most toll booths still have terrible speed breakers.

I'm sure the same situation persists across other National Highways in the country, since most of the time, local situations (like what the surrounding town people want) would dictate what is implemented, rather than what's mentioned in the guidelines.

I went on the Bangalore-Hassan highway on 21st & 22nd of this month. I saw new yellow coloured rumbler strips of varying gaps - first few had more gaps and last few had less gaps. These were at the junctions where small villages were there. I was scared if my car suspension will get ruined. And no one will slow down for these rumbler strips.

[pepega]

Hope this will be implemented on NH-66 within Goa. It's riddled with rumblers every few kilometers. Thank you to Shri Nikhal Desai for filing this RTI report.

Regards,
Pepega.

[DicKy]

What about the barricades at junctions?

Whole of Tamilnadu and a couple of places in Kerala has barricades by the local police at junctions. The slalom gaps between the barricades vary by the daytime/nighttime if the cops bother or they remain the same whole day.

[zing007]

Actually, rumblers/speed breakers are almost on every national highway in Odisha. Be it major NHs such as 18, 16, 316 or single lane NHs such as 26. The actual commuting time increases apart from them being hazards. The condition of state highways is even more pathetic. We call it "my home, my speed breaker" yojna. Almost every 400 to 500m you will find an unscientific speed breaker, people even place large stones on the either side of the speed breaker to stop two wheelers from avoiding them.

[adrian]

While on the ride to Ladakh, the most problematic speed breakers we faced were the "three consecutive ones". I think they are the specialty of Madhya Pradesh (even the roads inside forests are plagued by these three bumps some 1km apart), which would cause the loaded motorcycle to loose balance even if you are in low speeds.

While we were riding from Agra to Delhi, a cop pushed a wheeled barricade across our path. Since we were doing only 70kph, we were able to brake safely. But it was for sure, an ugly/ignorant act from the part of a law enforcing officer.

[sarathlal]

That was a good RTI to highlight this menace!

These painted rumblers along with the inadvertent use of cat eye markers are dangerous to be available on highways.
On a normal scale, these painted rumblers appear to be ok, but there are places where its so thick that it literally shakes hell out of vehicles and people inside it.

Related thread: https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...xperience.html (New road infra changes that are safety hazards and spoiling the driving experience)

[RT13]

Yup. Just got back to Bangalore from Sakleshpur via Hassan. Speed breakers of varying heights plus those ghastly 10-in-1 small ones are just an absolute disaster. I’m surprised we don’t have more accidents because of them rather than in spite of them. Now if only someone would implement this..

[Draunzer21]

The issue with speed breakers in general in most of the cities is that they come in all forms and sizes �� There should be some rule for that as well.

One thing that I have seen which results in creating speed breakers on highways is having a village on either side of the highway. As people/animal cross the road, speed breaker helps them by making cars reduce their speed. Our highways lack underpasses or overbridges which results in this.
I have seen speed breakers getting created within a day after an accident near a village.

No matter what rules should be strictly enforced and government should construct highways keeping all the things in mind.

[SPMercMan]

Hope they can implement this act the soonest. Our country really needs it. Don't know who those great people are who think putting a speed breaker on a National Highway will reduce accidents.

[itspatra]

Originally Posted by PearlJam

Unfortunately, more than 4 years after the original circular, we still have some nasty rumblers in the Bangalore-Hassan stretch and also the Bangalore-Hubbali stretch.

Exactly, We were travelling on this a couple of weeks back. At night its even worse. You are supposed to break to a crawling speed to pass over those speed bumbs. Basically everyone panic breaks in 200 meters with their emergency lights coming on.

[CArspeed]

What about barricades that are randomly and rampantly used in Tamilnadu Highways.
Government enacts Laws but it’s very clear and known fact as to who are the primary violators of the laws.
We should learn to drive in these precarious situations and live in order to live to drive.

[First God]

While this is good news to hear, I'm thinking when will the day come when a RTI will be filed to make all NHs in India Junction & Crossing-Free

The primary source/origins of Rumbler Strips, Barricades, Signals (which Kerala NHs are in abundance) & even at times wrong side driving/riding are from Crossings & Junctions

Nowadays on NHs that are decades old have started sealing of junctions like NH-48 in Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Karnataka where Officials are now building Underpasses, Overpasses after understanding the defects & accidents caused.

Most people argue that buildings underpasses, overpasses at every junction aren't feasible but the dangers both local traffic, pedestrian as well as the highway vehicle who is driving at a designed highway speed (sometimes even beyond that) face is something that has to be mitigated to reduce deaths,
A lower cost solution I suggest is to build Cattle/Pedestrian Underpasses (CUP/PUP) in places where it isn't feasible to build a large size & when the particular junction reaches saturation rebuild them (like they are doing in NH-48 in Karnataka, although it becomes an inconvenience for sometime).

[arnieshwartz]

It isn't hard to see why speed breakers appear all willy nilly on highways, sometimes even on controlled-access roads. Prime among them are poor traffic engineering and our attitude of laziness and lack of discipline (a.k.a the tendency to take short cuts and ignore regulations.)

Whenever a road fatality occurs, it is the speed of vehicles that inevitably attracts attention. The locals pile pressure on the authorities and the speed breakers appear. Or, the locals themselves take matters into their own hands and install their own version. The local police are often not far behind. Quite often, they come up with their own traffic re-engineering without any kind of education or expertise in the matter.

What really blows one's mind is the placement of some speed breakers - they just appear around a corner with no warning whatsoever and no illuminative paint on them, that it is just another disaster waiting to happen.