Deccan Herald 09.10.2013
Finally, work to begin on installing 39,000 road signs
Yielding to pressure from commuters, the
traffic police and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) have
decided to paint all major roads, junctions and road humps with white
strips, and erect road signs near such stretches in the City.
All road humps on main, arterial and service roads will be also painted and have road studs (cat eyes).
Tenders
had been awarded for painting roads, building or removing road humps
and installing road signs by the end of October, B Dayananda, the
Additional Commissioner (Traffic and Security), told Deccan Herald.
The work will be taken up under the B-Trac project and
includes the installation of 39,000 road signs – including 1,000 road
hump signs and 38,000 other types of signs and mandatory signs such as
‘no parking’, ‘no entry’ and ‘one-ways’; cautionary signs such as
‘school zone’, ‘drive slowly’ and ‘curve ahead’; and informatory signs
announcing parking areas, statistics and campaigns.
The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited, which implements B-Trac, finalised the tender and sent it for approval to the steering committee which did not clear it due to elections.
With the committee clearing it now and the monsoon coming to an end, the work will begin, said sources in the traffic police.
Joint stewardship
The development is the result of a meeting between the top brass of the BBMP and traffic police four months ago. According to sources, both agencies agreed to jointly maintain the roads. The Palike will build roads, lay road humps in places suggested by traffic police, remove or convert impractical humps and paint them wherever necessary, and fix road studs.
The traffic police, meantime, will maintain road strips, repaint them and refix studs once they get damaged. The traffic police have agreed to conduct maintenance twice a year, senior BBMP officers said.
According to sources, improperly located road humps and those without proper paint signs and studs have posed major problems to motorists. Most non-fatal road accidents reported late in the night are a result of motorists failing to notice the humps as they were neither painted nor had any studs. Two-wheeler riders have been especially prone to accidents brought on by improperly identified humps. Four-wheeled vehicles have also been damaged.
“In many cases, moving on an improper hump, drivers developed spine problems and such accidents led to injuries,” a source said, adding that the BBMP and traffic police decided to tackle the issue after receiving many complaints.
“So far, the police and the BBMP have either cleared or converted 1,600 improper road humps over the last year,” said an officer in the BBMP engineering section.
“There are now 1,200 proper humps and most of them need painting and studs. Most such stretches lack appropriate signboards.”
Dayananda added that around 30 per cent of improperly placed road humps could not be cleared due to various reasons. “Steps would be taken either remove or convert them into proper humps shortly,” he said.
The Karnataka Road Development Corporation Limited, which implements B-Trac, finalised the tender and sent it for approval to the steering committee which did not clear it due to elections.
With the committee clearing it now and the monsoon coming to an end, the work will begin, said sources in the traffic police.
Joint stewardship
The development is the result of a meeting between the top brass of the BBMP and traffic police four months ago. According to sources, both agencies agreed to jointly maintain the roads. The Palike will build roads, lay road humps in places suggested by traffic police, remove or convert impractical humps and paint them wherever necessary, and fix road studs.
The traffic police, meantime, will maintain road strips, repaint them and refix studs once they get damaged. The traffic police have agreed to conduct maintenance twice a year, senior BBMP officers said.
According to sources, improperly located road humps and those without proper paint signs and studs have posed major problems to motorists. Most non-fatal road accidents reported late in the night are a result of motorists failing to notice the humps as they were neither painted nor had any studs. Two-wheeler riders have been especially prone to accidents brought on by improperly identified humps. Four-wheeled vehicles have also been damaged.
“In many cases, moving on an improper hump, drivers developed spine problems and such accidents led to injuries,” a source said, adding that the BBMP and traffic police decided to tackle the issue after receiving many complaints.
“So far, the police and the BBMP have either cleared or converted 1,600 improper road humps over the last year,” said an officer in the BBMP engineering section.
“There are now 1,200 proper humps and most of them need painting and studs. Most such stretches lack appropriate signboards.”
Dayananda added that around 30 per cent of improperly placed road humps could not be cleared due to various reasons. “Steps would be taken either remove or convert them into proper humps shortly,” he said.
