HC notice to Highways Dept on unauthorised speed breakers

The Madras High Court today issued notice to the Highways Departmenton a PIL seeking to removal of unauthorised speed breakers on Karur-Dindigul Highway and regulation of their construction and location as per guidelines of the Indian Road Congress.
The Madurai Bench of the court comprising justices V Dhanapalan and V M Velumani issued notice to the department, including its Chief Engineer.
Petitioner T Vasu submitted that there were 113 speed bumps in the 72-km Karur-Dindigul stretch, most of which had been put up in an unauthorised manner.
He said speed breakers should be put on National Highways only with the prior permission of the police with suitable signals. There was no legislation or regulations giving specifics/parameters for the speed breakers, he said.

Vasu said the Indian Road Congress had prescribed standards for speed breakers, whose height should not exceed two to three inches and length should be 10 to 15 feet.
However, what had been laid on the stretch was speed bumps and not speed breakers, with six inches height. No consistent design had been followed in their construction. There were also no sign boards, he said.
He said though he had submitted a petition to the authorities concerned to get the speedbreakers removed, no action had been taken. Hence, he had moved the court.