People’s woes on Goa roads never seem to be ending. Today however, it is the badly constructed speed breakers. The PWD seems to have woken up late in the day to realise that most of the speed beakers on major roads are faulty and do not conform to the stipulated specifications of the Indian Road Congress (IRC).
The PWD it is reported, is now in the process of correcting the situtation by drawing up a uniform policy for all speed breakers, as per IRC specifications. The question is what were they doing all these years? As per the IRC, all speed breakers should have a rounded hump (rise) of 10 cms only, spread over a width of 3.7 metres and unifiormly tapering down at a gradient of 1:20 on either side longitudinally. This however is not the case with most speed breakers on Goa roads, as there is often an abrupt rise of more than 10 cms, which is the main cause of accidents where two wheeler drivers are often thrown off the bike.
Speed limit at the speed breaker should also be limited to 25 kmph. Speed breakers should also be painted, and sign- boards placed on either side at at around 10-15 k.m before, to warn about the speed breaker. Secondly, if road contractors undertaking road works leave the road in a bad state, it is the duty of the PWD to correct the situation.Unfortunately, this is not the case today.
