Nine Lives Lost Daily In Accidents Due To Speed Breakers, Parliament Told

Speed-breakers on Indian roads take at least nine lives and cause more than 30 accidents every day, Ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has said in the Parliament. These statics were provided in response to questions raised by members of Parliament P R Sundaram and Rajeev Shankarrao.

According to data submitted by police departments in states and union territories (UT), speed-breakers caused around 11,008 accidents in 2014, claiming 2,633 lives and injuring 9,428 people. In 2015, 3,409 people lost their lives and 9,764 were injured in over 11,084 road accidents caused by speed-breakers.

In a written response to the questions, the ministry said that it has asked all the states and UTs to not construct speed-breakers on National Highways.

According to International Road Federation chairman K K Kapila, the fault lies in the design and size of speed-breakers. Public works departments should be responsible for constructing them, he said, adding that “speed-breakers are constructed (in India) wherever people find a lot of traffic is moving”.

According to the ministry’s guidelines as traffic calming measures, states and UTs are allowed to build rumble strips wherever it is unavoidable.