Rawalpindi’s faulty speed-humps

Rawalpindi:The road humps we come across every day trouble most of us. It is a common feeling that some are not required at all, while some appear made hastily with no concern for drivers, causing damage to motorists’ spines and vehicles. Many of these humps do not even have white lines marked on them so that they stand out from a distance.

“Last year, being an activist of an NGO, I applied to find out if all the road humps in the city are authorized. Negotiating the humps day after day, I have developed problems in my spinal cord, like many others. Riding my two-wheeler on the humps had made my life difficult; the growing problem prompted me to apply to know the reality behind the numerous humps,” says Mohsin Beg.“I got the response a few days back. I was not surprised to find that many humps were unauthorized, and were not found on the concerned department’s records at all,” adds Mohsin.

“Some authorized humps stand with faded markings. Road humps painted in a V shape should be set alight with solar cat’s eyes — solar cells embedded on pavements/roads that reflect rays of the sun and glow in the dark — to make them visible. The humps should not be more than five meters away from the junction or the intersection,” says Shafqat Abbas.

“Two signboards, one at 20 to 30 meters and another 10 meters away from the hump should be placed for the commuters to know about the road humps ahead. Prevention of Intrusion of tree branches is necessary. Road humps should be put up only on the main roads and not on the crossroads,” adds Shafqat. “I got to know about a fatal accident on the Fazal Town Road that occurred because of an improper hump. Shahbaz Naqvi, 22, was returning home after dropping his friend at midnight. One of his friends Hasrat Hussain was also with him on another two-wheeler. Because the road hump was unmarked, Hasrat missed it; his motorbike jumped the breaker and he hit the divider. Hasrat died on the spot,” says Haider Rizvi.

“There was no traffic police at the time of the accident, and the Inspector at the concerned police station filed the FIR. The Inspector who signed the FIR, without writing his name under the signature, mentioned in the FIR that this accident happened because of the driver’s negligence,” adds Haider. Anwer Raza says, “This accident might be just one example of the horrifying and irrevocable effects of unplanned and unscientific road humps on the lives of motorists. However, similar cases and other minor accidents happen every day. At the very least, this incident has set a process to standardize these otherwise dangerous structures on the city’s roads.”