[GForceEnjoyer]

Mods, I had posted on this topic in the thread https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ml#post5344297 (Rumble Strips: Unscientific and irritating implementation on Indian roads) However, I felt that making a new thread on this serious issue made more sense, since this post is specific to Hyderabad. The thread I had posted originally on had also seen no activity since 2018. Please do as you see fit, thanks.

The rumble strips are an absolutely awful menace all over Hyderabad. They are no longer the docile strips of white paint which I used to see a few years ago, they are basically 2/5 of a speed breaker at this point. Each and every road is being littered with these. And there is absolutely no consistency! One set could be nearly intangible at 60 km/h, yet the very next one could rattle your bones out. Then, as you slow down for the next one, you'd have your back broken even at 30 km/h. Worse still, these three sets would all have been within 50 metres of each other!

I just don't understand, what's the point of these on perfectly straight roads with good surfaces? And even the ones around curves are terribly and possibly dangerously implemented. On ISB Road, you can feel the rear losing traction on the set of rumble strips smack in the middle of the curve unless you're traveling at least at 60 km/h!

Special mention needs to be given to the Durgam Cheruvu bridge and the elevated road following it. The size, sharpness and sheer number of rumble strips is atrocious to say the least.








The worst part is, nearly every road in the city is now moving towards this state!

Any cars plying here have their suspensions brutally assaulted on every single opportunity. This is terrible and some sense is needed. The average speed of commutes has nosedived even without traffic now. Hyderabad used to be the only city (in my experience) where you could use cruise control on a good day (University of Hyderabad area especially). Now it seems like the only metropolitan city which actively punishes you for even daring to drive!

In fact this is something I'm now seeing on lots of major roads all over Telangana. The NH-44 has such massive rumble strips that you feel as though the entire dashboard is going to fall apart. The majority of cars plying here will become rattleboxes soon...

Horrid situation!

[condor]

Not just Hyderabad. Rumble strips are meant to be subtle, but here in Bangalore most of these are like a series of mini, flat speed breakers about 1 cm high.

Just hate these, and esp the ones where the tar in between two strips has eroded turning the rumble into shakes.

[SmartCat]

On the bright side, these rumble strips act as a free 'wheel alignment checker'. If your steering or teeth shakes a lot when you drive over these rumble strips at 25 kmph, it means something is wrong with your car's wheel alignment.

Related thread:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ian-roads.html (Rumble Strips: Unscientific and irritating implementation on Indian roads)

[GForceEnjoyer]

Originally Posted by condor

Not just Hyderabad. Rumble strips are meant to be subtle, but here in Bangalore most of these are like a series of mini, flat speed breakers about 1 cm high.

Just hate these, and esp the ones where the tar in between two strips has eroded turning the rumble into shakes.

Yes, it's really made city drives infuriating and tiring, not to mention very hard on cars.

I am not sure about right now, but we drove down to Bangalore in March this year, so I experienced those rumble strips first-hand too (so I have experienced both cities in the same car). I'd put the situation this way. Compared to Hyderabad, Bangalore's rumble strips were more consistent in nature (with exactly your description). The issue with Hyderabad is slightly different. A lot of the rumble strips match your description, but there are also a lot which don't. They vary in their width (not just height), so it definitely sticks out a lot more.

However, there really is no justification for rumble strips according to me, since it is totally possible to curb speeding significantly with properly enforced (and well thought-out!) speed limits. I sincerely hope this situation changes in the near future.

Originally Posted by SmartCat

On the bright side, these rumble strips act as a free 'wheel alignment checker'. If your steering or teeth shakes a lot when you drive over these rumble strips at 25 kmph, it means something is wrong with your car's wheel alignment.

Related thread:
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/stree...ian-roads.html (Rumble Strips: Unscientific and irritating implementation on Indian roads)

Not to mention a way to make sure that the driver never ever falls asleep... The only catch being that it applies to the passengers too.

[IshaanIan]

They are so badly implemented here even the ones that greet you as you come down to Punjagutta circle literally cause traffic and rumble strips before or on a corner like the ones on that new bridge are just straight retarded. I do not understand why this is not fixed.

[Ojas]

These rumble strips are the reason I avoid the shortest and the most convenient route to my office. They are such a nuisance.

It's a matter of time before cars develop rattles. While on these roads, I sometimes wish I had bought a cheap abuse-friendly car instead.

They also potentially cause accidents because some cars slow down while others just fly past as if they don't even exist.

Hope some sense prevails and authorities fix this soon.

[rt363]

We have the same issue in Kerala roads.
I wonder what on earth the installers were thinking when they fixed these strips or half baked humps right before/after/inside a curve !
Highly dangerous for two wheelers as one could easily skid on these stupidly thought strips.
Either it should be speed breakers or nothing at all.
I surely hate the brains behind these strips and wish someone could just smack their brains for it to function in sane sense.

[karthikg87]

I think it has something to do with the car as well. I drive on the roads around Durgam cheruvu frequently but did not notice the strips to be uncomfortable.

I did notice a feeling of floating from the rear of the car a few times if driven on them quite fast.

I believe rumble strips are a much better and safer solution compared to speed breakers for both drivers and cars. It’s just a matter of slowing down enough to avoid discomfort.

FYI I drive a Ford Ecosport.

[k0p]

Originally Posted by karthikg87

I did notice a feeling of floating from the rear of the car a few times if driven on them quite fast..

You probably notice that on curves. Speed+Braking along curves over rumble strips causes the cars to let loose a bit. Noticed it multiple times. Makes me wonder if that crash over the biodiversity crash was because of rumble strips and no banking. That flyover is a menace with soo many rumble strips post that accident.

[RunGaDa]

Agree. I would be happy if they are consistent. But they are not. If you by chance drive on the Bio Diversity flyover - yes the same one from which a high flying entrepreneur jumped with his car - literally, there are infinite rumble strips on that fly over. They actually built an opposite banking on the right turn coming down. Shockingly in India authorities are so outdated when implementing proper and safe roads and facilities to drivers that it feels like living in a cursed parallel universe if one has seen better things outside India.

[vvbkumar]

Originally Posted by k0p

You probably notice that on curves. Speed+Braking along curves over rumble strips causes the cars to let loose a bit. Noticed it multiple times. Makes me wonder if that crash over the biodiversity crash was because of rumble strips and no banking. That flyover is a menace with soo many rumble strips post that accident.

If i recall correctly, the overuse of rumble strips were in response to that crash, i live quite near by to the incident. Initially these strips were only there at the beginning and end of the flyover and not in between.

Durgam Cheruvu bridge has around 21 of these with numbers 1, 4, 7, 13, 15, 17 and 19 being the most notorious (when travelling towards inorbit mall).

[PreludeSH]

In Bengaluru, all the concrete roads are seeing more of these. I agree there is no consistency. Some rumble while others cause grumble. I have noticed sometimes car goes sideways on some of these if not slowed down.

But there are still the old hump strips on inter-city, rural roads which are dangerous. There is road congress and standards which are for name sake.

[VikramCS]

Thanks for starting a thread on this - i have observed NICE road in Bangalore with a lot of such rumble strips, and, yes the BLR-HYD highway has also lot of them.

I absolutely hate these rumble strips and get very angry while moving over these nuisance on road.

1. What is really the intention of having rumble strips? Roads already have plenty of potholes, aberrations, unscientific humps, misplaced joints, multiple imperfections - all in addition to heavy traffic and unruly road-users. Aren't we already harassed enough on roads?

2. What does the Govt. want - you levy heavy road taxes, registration charges, tolls for pathetic road infrastructure and despite road users paying for all these, you want us to drive over useless rumble strips? What is the intention? What purpose does it serve other than troubling road-users?

3. Is the intention to slow down? Well, there are already more than enough speed breakers on roads, why add to our misery? What is the point in slowing down every few meters, shouldn't we drive even at decent pace? Totally unacceptable.

4. Rumble strips are dangerous too: on a particular NICE road stretch, there are a series of such strips every few meters. During my return journey, it was late evening already and few drivers behind me were in a hurry...i had slowed down a couple of times when passing over rumble strips, and almost got hit by a commercial vehicle behind me. It's possible the driver did not anticipate me slowing down over strips, but, that's the problem - not all vehicles slow down while passing over, but, if you do, you risk getting hit from behind.

5. What about damages caused to vehicles moving over strips at considerable speeds?

I seriously think some able lawyer helps file a PIL or complaint in courts. Seems legal action is required to get these removed permanently.

[manub22]

Very bad experience in last 4-5 months. These were not present or were very few across Hyderabad till last year. But now these have been mushrooming everywhere. And in these few months, my car H-City has taken a toll on its suspensions. Now even on a simple rough surface, I'm facing vibrations and hearing noises from my suspension and steering column. This menace needs to get surfaced at the Road and Transport department !!!

[JoshMachine]

Ideally, the design of rumble strips should be such that they warn you of oncoming road junctions/schools/hospitals etc coming up ahead. They are not meant to be an alternative for speed breakers.

Here in Maharashtra, this phenomenon of poorly designed rumble strips causes havoc on the Pune-Indore/Bhopal circuit. I have travelled many a times on this stretch and have encountered speed & back-shattering rumble strips, specially after crossing Dhule.