Speed breakers or life breakers? (of Bangalore)
Hello everybody,
With the elections round the corner, everybody's mantra is NaMo, RaGa(Rahul Gandhi) or A K(Arvind Kejriwal), depending on the choice of the alliance. While the voter turnout has remained same in the state of Kerala compared to the previous elections, the same has seen a rise in some states of North India. Is it because of the entrance of Aam Aadmi Party which vouches to fight the ever prevalent corruption or is it because of the NOTA (None Of The Above) option in the ballot papers? Though the NDA alliance is more likely to form the Government this time, we all want to know how much Aam Aadmi Party has made impact on the aam aadmi and the other two major parties. The phrase 'aam aadmi' will not be used by Congress and BJP as it has become the name of another party. I should follow lot of campaign meetings at various places and debates between various party persons to write more on the political heat of the country this summer, but I do not follow minutely all these news.
Why should I be writing about a seemingly insignificant issue like 'speed breakers or road humps' when elections occupy front pages. Also, when there are many promises doled out by different parties, is the topic of speed-breakers one among them? It is a definite no! It is an irrelevant issue unlike Women's Reservation Bill, Right To Education, Amendment of Rape laws etc, but for those who live in Bangalore city and drive to their workplaces daily, a speed breaker is always a 'small mountain' to cross and keep moving. To all those who are wondering whether I drive, no, I don't drive. After our wedding, when I came to Bangalore, I suddenly felt I was encountering so many road humps. I had earlier imagined that Bangalore is a place with well-laid roads protected by endless rows of shady trees on either sides of pavements. I soon came to realize that it is 'speed breakers' or road humps' paradise. In every other road and by lane, there are 2 to 3 speed breakers. Being newly married and not familiar with other cities in India, I thought this will be a common thing in most of the other cities. But, as I visited some more cities over a period of time, I realized that these speed breakers are more a specialty of Namma Benguluru. I do not have anything against these road humps, but the question is why are so many of them required? Yes, near the junctions, schools, shopping complexes there need to be humps. But the ones in highways? In some areas where the road humps are not required, they are either there or if removed, the space is not leveled. A few months back, my husband told me that there is a hump near the office big enough to cause accidents. As predicted, we read in papers a couple of days later that a woman who was driving her Kinetic bike lost her balance while crossing that hump and fell down and run over by a truck. Many of the speed breakers do not have zebra lines painted or reflectors near that. It is more dangerous if one cannot see it from a distance during night.
An ideal speed breaker should be painted with zebra lines, have reflectors, should be relevant to that area and there should be a sign board from a distance that there is a hump ahead. Hope Namma Benguluru authorities approach this issue properly for the well-being of the public and not build endless speed breakers to 'break' all the records as to have highest number of speed breakers!!!
Deepa.
With the elections round the corner, everybody's mantra is NaMo, RaGa(Rahul Gandhi) or A K(Arvind Kejriwal), depending on the choice of the alliance. While the voter turnout has remained same in the state of Kerala compared to the previous elections, the same has seen a rise in some states of North India. Is it because of the entrance of Aam Aadmi Party which vouches to fight the ever prevalent corruption or is it because of the NOTA (None Of The Above) option in the ballot papers? Though the NDA alliance is more likely to form the Government this time, we all want to know how much Aam Aadmi Party has made impact on the aam aadmi and the other two major parties. The phrase 'aam aadmi' will not be used by Congress and BJP as it has become the name of another party. I should follow lot of campaign meetings at various places and debates between various party persons to write more on the political heat of the country this summer, but I do not follow minutely all these news.
Why should I be writing about a seemingly insignificant issue like 'speed breakers or road humps' when elections occupy front pages. Also, when there are many promises doled out by different parties, is the topic of speed-breakers one among them? It is a definite no! It is an irrelevant issue unlike Women's Reservation Bill, Right To Education, Amendment of Rape laws etc, but for those who live in Bangalore city and drive to their workplaces daily, a speed breaker is always a 'small mountain' to cross and keep moving. To all those who are wondering whether I drive, no, I don't drive. After our wedding, when I came to Bangalore, I suddenly felt I was encountering so many road humps. I had earlier imagined that Bangalore is a place with well-laid roads protected by endless rows of shady trees on either sides of pavements. I soon came to realize that it is 'speed breakers' or road humps' paradise. In every other road and by lane, there are 2 to 3 speed breakers. Being newly married and not familiar with other cities in India, I thought this will be a common thing in most of the other cities. But, as I visited some more cities over a period of time, I realized that these speed breakers are more a specialty of Namma Benguluru. I do not have anything against these road humps, but the question is why are so many of them required? Yes, near the junctions, schools, shopping complexes there need to be humps. But the ones in highways? In some areas where the road humps are not required, they are either there or if removed, the space is not leveled. A few months back, my husband told me that there is a hump near the office big enough to cause accidents. As predicted, we read in papers a couple of days later that a woman who was driving her Kinetic bike lost her balance while crossing that hump and fell down and run over by a truck. Many of the speed breakers do not have zebra lines painted or reflectors near that. It is more dangerous if one cannot see it from a distance during night.
An ideal speed breaker should be painted with zebra lines, have reflectors, should be relevant to that area and there should be a sign board from a distance that there is a hump ahead. Hope Namma Benguluru authorities approach this issue properly for the well-being of the public and not build endless speed breakers to 'break' all the records as to have highest number of speed breakers!!!
Deepa.
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