Broken dividers turn death traps

Dangerous Blocks

While dividers might be a good thing to remind people that they one need to stick to the lane, they often prove to be a bigger headache when broken and strewn all over the road.

   Bangaloreans tell Metrolife how broken dividers have become hazardous and are making life difficult for them. Jayashree Rajanahally, a special educator, drives a
car to work and around the City.

She says, “At many places in the City, one can see two-wheeler riders going over broken dividers. If one’s not alert enough, other motorists would end up banging into them. Such accidents happen a lot.”

“The trail of the bricks, that forms the so-called divider, often shifts. At night, I’m
paranoid to drive as I’m constantly making sure that there’s nothing in front of me. Roads like Double Road and the one in front of NIMHANS often have such mishaps. It’s
a menace being on these roads,” she says.

Some also point out how broken dividers also cause avoidable confusion on the road.
“Broken dividers could cause traffic to move in a criss-cross fashion. Therefore, the entire trail of vehicles tends to shift to the left causing pressure to the riders, who are on the left side of the road,” says Harish Shanthi Kumar, director of engineering at a multinational company.

“There are also dividers which are purposely broken around shops to make a localised entry on long roads. All of these can easily lead to traffic blocks,” opines Harish.
Ashwin Murugesh, senior manager at a firm, voices his concern, “The issues faced because of broken dividers are not just for two-wheeler riders. People tend to take unexpected U-turns. Due to the smaller opening because of a broken divider, they cut too much to the left in order to make the turn.”

Ashwin, who’s passionate about cycling adds, “This in turn, could be dangerous for cyclists who are on the left side of the lane.” For some others, the whole concept of dividers is not yet clear. Anantha Padmanaban, director of pre-sales and solutions, comments, “Firstly, the purpose of dividers to me is still alien. Across the world, when yellow lines are drawn, it means that the driver is not supposed to cross the
lane and go to the other side. It’s a disciplinarian issue.

Once these dividers are made, they should be maintained well. The most vulnerable are of course people on two wheelers.”  Anantha details, “There could be iron rods or wires protruding out of the dividers or bricks that have fallen off all across the road and any
of this can be bad. The consequences definitely differ according to the vehicle.”

Ask M A Saleem, additional commissioner of traffic police, about the number of accidents in this regard and he says, “It’s very hard to quantify a specific number of accidents for this particular reason. But there are many accidents that happen due to road engineering issues, be it uneven roads or broken dividers.”

Saleem adds, “Often, cars driving with high beam lights can add to the issue of broken dividers as visibility reduces. The broken divider can be missed and vehicles could ram into it. The only solution for this is proper maintenance of the dividers. As is often said, ‘Prevention is better than cure’. On Sundays, often the traffic police take care of
such issues where they personally help out with the
alignment of divider blocks and other such issues.”