Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Back-breaking speed-breakers

— Photo: G. Moorth

UPS AND DOWNS: A security guard lending a helping hand to make the tricycle ‘climb’ the humps in front of the district court in the city.

MADURAI: A series of speed breakers within less than a 70-foot-stretch on the Madurai-Melur highway in front of the District Court Complex is putting road users to a lot of inconvenience.

Though there were speed breakers on either side of the entrance to the court complex for quite sometime, the addition of two more humps close to them poses difficulty to small vehicles.

Two-wheeler riders are the worst affected and are often seen losing balance while crossing the new speed-breakers. As against the smooth finish of the older ones, the new humps are taller and their edges end abruptly, making it difficult for auto-rickshaws and goods carriers to pass over them.

The other day, a steel rod-laden tricycle that easily crossed the older speed breakers suddenly stopped after the rear wheels hit the ‘taller’ one. The rickshaw puller lost control of the vehicle and it started moving in the reverse direction. The protruding steel rods would have hit a two-wheeler rider just behind but for the timely help rendered by a policeman.

In another instance, passengers had to get down from a share autorickshaw as the vehicle could not ‘climb’ the speed-breaker.

A.K. Ramasamy, secretary of Madurai Bar Association, said that the lawyers wanted still “better” speed breakers, like the ones outside Madurai High Court Bench premises. “These would prevent accidents,” he said.

The speed-breakers slow down the vehicles leading to bumper-to-bumper traffic during peak hours. Road users feel that rumblers, instead of such speed-breakers, could have been effective in controlling speed of the vehicles.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

State restrained from filling vacancies
Bottling plants to work on Sundays
Elected office-bearers
Water level
College to host festival on nuclear awareness
Teppam festival to be a grand affair this year
Threat to environment
Week-long khadi exhibition on near Meenakshi Temple
Progressive farmers a happy lot
Applications invited for social worker member in juvenile justice board
Back-breaking speed-breakers
Power shutdown tomorrow
“Declare Madurai as customs airport”
Madurai today

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu