Speedy, hectic life we live with vehicles, traveling most of the time. Have you ever noticed how many speed breakers coming in our path every day?
We have become so habitual that we are not aware of obstacles coming on our road every day. On an empty road if we got a vehicle to drive. How much speed will you fly your automobile /60/80/100/120 or more?
But what about speed breakers? Are they essential?
We never think like that, only just knew while driving how to lower our vehicle speed and go through those speed breakers which are necessary or not, healthier or not, legal or not.
I always remember when you went from auto rikshaw or taxi to those speed breakers you can't forget as they hurt you physically, and as a reaction, you always shout over the driver.
As a result, you get pain in the neck or back. The fault is not of the driver all the time sometimes, when you drive you also can't resist the shocks on your body.
Dr. Rajeev Verma from Manipal Hospital said in an earlier survey or in an interview that our body mainly has muscles, bones, and nerves in the back, and due to heavy strain on the speed breaker, back muscles will strain and tear out. Sometimes, backside discs can also be displaced. Sciatica pain is one example of pain or health issues caused by these speed breakers.
Its Origin:
In 1953, Arthur Holly Compton, the physicist and Nobel Prize winner. He designed the first speed breaker, that one he called the traffic control bump. In those days, Compton was in the post of chancellor of Washington DC in Missouri. He was shocked to see how fast vehicles ran on the roads, especially in front of Brooking Hall. During that period, many accidents occurred as manufacturers produced high-speed cars, not to mention its limitations and regulations. To avoid such accidents due to the high speed of automobiles, he created speed breakers. It was called Holly Bump those days by some people.
Speed bumps were first on the roads of the UK in 1983. Today, there are over 42,000 speed bumps in the UK. The Highways (Road Humps) Regulations of 1999, the minimum length for speed bumps should be 900mm, and the height is 25mm. Speed bumps only came to Europe in the 1970s. Even the history and origin of speed breakers are far beyond what we can visualize as road engineers in the beauty of the city of Pompeii.
Its types:
We call it speed breaker, speed bump, speed ramp, and then that. Have you ever noticed that every shock your body receives from speed breakers is unlike as those speed breakers are different from each other? Broadly they are of 6 types:-
- Highway speed bumps
It is on major roads. It controls traffic flow. They are not commonly used on main roads as they disturb high-speed vehicles by vehicular damage. It is chiefly before the traffic light signal to control vehicles to slow down before the red indication. Federal administration confirms that speed bumps reduce collisions between automobiles and pedestrians.
- Driveway speed bumps
It slows down vehicles moving on the driveway. It became a convenient safety point for walking on pedestrian crossings, crosswalks, and sidewalks. They force drivers to reduce speed below 15 miles per hour. The materials used in it are recycled plastic, rubber, steel/metal, concrete, and asphalt.
- Gravel road speed bumps
These bumps contain dirt and gravel. Driver goes through these bumps on the road at high speed. It controls traffic by forcing speedy vehicles to reduce their pace below 15 mph by making the path safer for pedestrians walking on crossings and safety lanes.
- Dirt road speed bumps
They apply on dirt roads instead of gravel roads. A speedy vehicle going over a dirt road can spread dirt and trouble the other passers-by by making the path unclear. A great solution to reduce dirt scatter is using dirt road speed bumps on dirt roads at such points where pedestrians are excessive. Homes are near the road.
- Garage speed bumps
They are great traffic-management ways of moving safely through a garage. If drivers have the habit of ignoring stop signs, parking signs, and traffic signs, then placing speed breakers before them can be an effective solution to make drivers follow signs properly. They are a great way of keeping school, mall, or factory garage safe.
- Parking lot speed bumps
They effectively manage the arrangement and speed of vehicles in parking places. Drivers follow a posted speed limit imposed by the parking lot owner with the help of speed breakers. It is a place where automobiles and walkers can have direct contact. Through these breakers, drivers drive at slow-moving for the sake of the pedestrian's safety point of view.
Disadvantages:
In emergency or crucial timing, one can't go at high speed due to speed breakers, and at leisurely, their journey slows down and becomes long.
Most of the time, it diverts traffic toward residential streets to save time. As a result, it increases noise and pollution in residential areas.
It can cause damage to certain vehicles also. It increases noise when large automobiles pass over these speed breakers.
Sometimes, signs for speed breakers of road, use of white lines, and street lighting interrupt drivers to focus while driving. Again and again, placements of speed breakers create discomfort for drivers as well as for passengers. Create problems for emergency services through automobiles like ambulances, police, and fire brigades as they can overcome traffic by controlling them, but these speed breakers interrupt their high speed.
These speed breakers are one of the impactful reasons for our increasing air pollution through automobiles. Because of these speed breakers, one should lower the speed by down the gear using significantly more fuel per mile within traffic. It will pollute the air for a long duration.
Their presence nowadays become a compromising activity for drivers and the public who drive their vehicles on roads. The noise created by the friction produced by the interaction of tires over the breakers or bumps is irritating and weird. As a result, it will influence the engine to scream more.
Most of the dangerous impact on our body as it will cause spinal damage ( cervical is a crucial example of it) and provoke chronic backache issues. Health issues like a slipped disc, sciatica, and neck pain are common, and most of the time, our head gets hurt from the window, seat, or ceiling of the car while traveling and get shock from these speed breakers.
Damage caused by snow plows during the winter months in hilly areas.
In 2003, the chairman of the London Ambulance Service, Sigurd Reinton, claimed that delays caused by speed bumps were responsible for up to 500 avoidable deaths from cardiac arrest each year. He later changed his statement, but nowadays, death caused by cardiac arrest is more somewhere his that statement is the bitter truth of our lives. While driving, the heart also takes shocks from these speed breakers, and most of the time, delay is through ambulances because of these speed breakers.
Do you know? Due to spinal stress, many bus drivers skip unmodified roads and drive at 10 km per hour to pass nearly 150-speed breakers on a straight single street per day evaluation conducted in Sweden.
Petrol-driven cars produce 64% more nitrogen dioxide, 47% more particulate matter, and 60% more carbon monoxide while consuming more fuel entirely because of these speed breakers.
Law or Guidelines:
Speed humps have a traverse distance of about 3.7 to 4.3 m (12 to 14 ft) and span the width of the road. The height of each hump ranges from 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in).
To reduce the speed of the vehicle to 25 mph.
Keep in mind shorter traverse lengths with greater heights slow cars most drastically. Most of the time, it leads to accidents and makes two-wheelers fall.
Warning signs boards should be used on the sides of the road to notify approaching drivers of upcoming humps. Humps generally have pavement markings with white strips on them to enhance visibility and a narrow edge near the end to allow a gap for drainage so that driver have clarity in their mind.
Speed humps are usually not allowed to place on primary routes due to the emergency services. Speed cushions are permitted instead of speed breakers on such roads if essential.
You want to install them in front of your house if traffic is higher in your residential area to reduce the speed and accidents. You must ask the neighbors and get approval from local officials. You can't build speed breakers in front of your house just for fun or for your comfort zone.
Rubber, plastic, and steel speed breakers are designed especially for dirt roads / unmodified roads for their durability. Don't put the speed breakers on every modified, uniformly graveled asphalt street of your colony just for your comfort without thinking of drivers' problems and aside from knowing the law accurately.
It is illegal to construct speed breakers on public roads without proper permission or authorization from the relevant authorities.
Speed breakers to slow down traffic near schools and hospitals are allowed. They are also placed near toll booths and entry points of bridges or narrow roads to ensure that vehicles reduce their speed.
Most speed breakers on most roads are illegal, only created by localities for no reason. Speed Breakers on Highways are specifically banned by an order of the Supreme Court.
As per the IRC guidelines, speed breakers must not block the flow of running rainwater.
Casualties:
For the first time, the government recorded deaths caused by speed breakers. The 11,400 people died in such cases, with Uttar Pradesh topping the list in year 2014 as one of the reports. Maharashtra registered 368 deaths in crashes due to speed breakers.
Road Transport and highways ministry published in 2014 that 4,726 lives were, lost in crashes due to humps, and 6,672 people died in accidents caused due to speed breakers. Kolkata has several ridiculous speed breakers designed by the locals. Experts said there was a lack of uniformity and no standard design of speed breakers on most roads.
V L Patankar, the former director of the Indian Academy of Highway Engineers, said most speed breakers on internal roads were hugely dangerous. None follow design, curvature, and location while putting these speed breakers.
So, many speed breakers because of poor traffic engineering and ergonomics, in addition to the Indian attitude of laziness, ignorance, and not complaining in municipal against these dangerous speed breakers.
The Pune Municipal Corporation has also prepared a separate draft policy for speed breakers as reported by unnecessary speed breakers will be removed, and new ones will be constructed, strictly as per IRS standards. According to Pune road department officials, only 10% of the at least 2,600 speed breakers in the city have been built, according to IRC guidelines. Faulty speed breakers were found to be constructed in a hurry and were the main reason behind the rise in the number of accidents. It is just about how Pune has reported, so imagine all over India or the world how many faulty and unnecessary speed breakers we are driving ourselves, having no optional ways.
Conclusion:
Speed breakers are to control traffic by slowing down the vehicles, but you will be surprised Heavy sedans, trucks, and SUVs are less affected by speed breakers and may not have to slow down as dramatically. Speed breakers not only influence our vehicles but also break our living performances.
. . .
References:-