Speed bumps are a part of life and roads. Just as in life, the speed breakers on the Nagpur road must be endured to get to the destination. Unfortunately for the commuter, these speed breakers can either lead their vehicle to the mechanic or themselves to the doctor.
Flouting
Flouting rules and guidelines are nothing new when it comes to road construction by contractors in Nagpur. The same is true for Speed Breakers. Random bumps on the road are seen everywhere, be it a narrow lane or a congested highway such as the Amravati Road.
They are known to cause damage to both the commuter’s back and the vehicle’s working condition. All of which can be avoided by following simple guidelines and laws in practice for the laying of speed breakers. However, no one seems to care about the flouting of these guidelines and rules.
As per the Guidelines on The Provision of Speed Breakers for Control of Vehicular Speeds on Minor Roads (IRC 099), laid down by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), the Apex Body of Highway Engineers in the country, the definition of the speed breaker is as follows
"A speed breaker is a hump surface across the roadway having a rounded shape with a width greater than the wheelbase of most of the vehicles using the road".
The flouting starts by blatantly disregarding the definition of speed breaker itself, which clearly states that the width of the speed breaker must be greater than the wheelbase of most of the vehicles using the road.
The wheelbase is the horizontal distance between the centers of the front and rear wheels.
The wheelbase of a small two-wheeler like a moped is between 1.23 to 1.26 meters, whereas that of a bus is around 5.6 meters. The IRC has thus directed to construct speed breakers with a width of 3.7 meters. However, speed breakers with width that can be measured between two fingers are commonly seen on the Nagpur roads, without any penalties being levied on the ones who constructed them.
The IRC has also directed to mark the speed breakers for a visual warning. As per Section 8.2 of IRC 099 “Speed breakers should be painted with alternate black and white bands to give additional visual warning. For better night visibility, it is desirable that the markings are in luminous paint/luminous strips. Embedded cat-eyes can also be used to enhance night visibility.”
Any markings of such kind are rarely seen in the speed breakers in the city.
A signposting, warning drivers of the speed bump ahead must also be installed. As per the IRC, the speed breakers must also have “arrangements for proper drainage of the speed breakers must be made to prevent the formation of ponds and puddles”. This mandatory rule is also flouted by doing the obvious, not installing the signpost.
The IRC 099 guidelines for the construction of speed breakers were published to “promote orderly traffic movement and improved safety”.
Traffic is in shambles and safety has failed to avoid the bump.
Floating
The result of such flouting is that vehicles are seen floating like Michael Jordon, getting some serious air time, all made possible by the Nagpur speed breakers. Narrow, wide, tall, and short are some of the common characteristics of the speed breakers on Nagpur roads.
The wide and tall ones are perfect for making your vehicle jump if you do not see them. More often than not, the driver is unable to see them as they are neither marked with white stripes nor with any reflective surface. The result being that the vehicle is not decelerated before approaching the speed breaker, causing it to leave the ground and get some air time. There you have it, a floating vehicle.
Then there are the narrow speed breakers. These should be called Back Breakers. No matter what speed you approach them at, they are bound to cause a jerk in the lower back of the driver or shatter the chassis of the vehicle. Both enabling the driver float straight to heaven.
The common man floats, unsafely on the roads, hoping for better driving conditions by honest use of taxes for development.
The contractors and the Nagpur city administration, flout the rules and guidelines, laughing on the hopes of the common man.
Will this approach make Nagpur a SMART CITY? It will definitely make it a city to be flouted upon.
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