Speed breakers laid without following norms lead to accidents

CHENNAI: On Tiruveedhi Amman Koil Street in Radhakrishnan Nagar near Mandaveli, the corporation has laid eight speed breakers within a distance of 500 meters. Not one has the mandatory yellow warning marks.
A Jayanthi, a resident of Mandaveli, says the speed breakers are very high and have caused quite a few accidents. "People who are not familiar with this road are worst affected," she said.
The Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines state that the ideal speed breaker should be four inches high and 11.5 feet wide. However, most speed breakers do not follow these specifications and this results in accidents.
The Karnataka state government recently re-laid a number of speed breakers as they did not meet the specifications, after the Lokayukta submitted a report to the government on the illegal speed breakers throughout the city.
Mohammed Azad from Saidapet said that corporation officials do not follow the IRC norms for speed breakers, adding that the local corporation councillor had given officials instructions to set up speed breakers.
Traffic expert V Thamizharasan of the transportation engineering division, IIT Madras, said that the highways department or local body should put up a warning sign 40m ahead of the speed breaker. "If the government follows the IRC norms, it will help reduce accidents in the city. Speed breakers should also be painted with the correct yellow and white marks," he said.
Chennai corporation commissioner D Karthikeyan said that they have been following the IRC norms. "If someone points out that an accident has taken place due to a speed breaker, it will be removed," he said.