Karnataka - Belgaum   

Motorists bump over unmarked humps

Selfless service: Autorickshaw drivers painting road humps near the entrance to the District Government Hospital in Belgaum.

Belgaum: It has hardly been a fortnight since the Belgaum City Corporation (BCC) constructed speed humps, but they have been left unmarked.

It has not even put up signboards to warn motorists of the speed humps ahead.

These humps, constructed on one side of the two-way Club Road, are barely visible though there are streetlights.

On Wednesday, an elderly man had a narrow escape on Club Road, near the entrance of the District Government Hospital, when his scooter skidded after he went over a speed himp.

“While four-wheeler drivers can manage, two-wheeler riders lose their balance and fall down,” said Kalmesh Sollad, general secretary of Jai Karnataka Kannada Okkuta, an autorickshaw drivers’ organisation.

He said the okkuta had requested the BCC to paint the speed humps so that they would be visible in the dark. But it was ignored. After Wednesday’s incident, the okkuta has decided to paint the humps without waiting for the BCC to act. They completed the work on Thursday. “We (autorickshaw drivers) are aware of the presence of these speed humps and slow down our vehicles. But not all road users know about them,” Mr. Sollad said. In fact, the BCC was not willing to construct speed humps despite several requests. Accidents used to take place regularly because of heavy traffic from four major roads converging on Club Road, which links several residential localities. It was only when autorickshaw drivers staged a rasta roko that the BCC responded.

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