Long ago when I was driving with my dad, he made a mention that road hump or speed breakers are the most barbaric way of regulating speed and traffic. Back then I was too young was not very certain of what his comment meant.
30 years later when I frequently ply between Bangalore and Mysore I arrived at a few interesting mathematical figures and the amount of impact it has upon so many present day problems such as pollution, fuel wastage, higher vehicle maintenance and so on.
Firstly the simple maths
Distance between Bangalore and Mysore 160 Kms four lane traffic.
There are a total of 60 Road Humps on this stretch. Most of these humps are located at the entry and exit of each village or small city.
Vehicles normally ply at 80 Kmph on this stretch.
Firstly, the vehicle speed drops to 20% of its speed and then it will accelerate back to its cruising speed.
If on the other hand a regulated speed controlled to 40 kmph is put in place in villages and towns then such wastage of energy can be reduced.
Typically, reduction in mileage per hump will be 0.1% of actual mileage.
Now calculating the figures for a car with a mileage of 15 kph travelling from Bangalore to Mysore with 60 humps will work out to a saving of 0.6 ltrs of Diesel or approximately Rs 25/-.
I am not sure about the traffic density between Bangalore and Mysore but considering 10000 vehicles per day 6000 ltrs of Diesel can be saved every day. Not to mention that much equivalent of pollution will reduce and also machinery fatigue owing to this jerky motion.
This is just a small example of the real situation and imagine if this figures are extrapolated to the entire country !!!
