The engineering wing of Chandigarh administration, despite having faced heavy criticism previously, has decided to go ahead and initiate the process of construction of three more table top speed-breakers at Sector 60, 61 and 62 junctions on Vikas Marg.
The Chandigarh Administration had in July in this year decided to make table tops at eight junctions — the main chowks of the city. Officials of the engineering wing then had said that concrete and pavers will be used in the construction of the tabletops, which will help cyclists and pedestrians in crossing the road at the main junctions.
The table tops, however, had come under severe criticism later after a spate of accidents — both fatal and non-fatal ones — near them, prompting road safety experts to call for proper lighting and proper warning signages to be put up on the roads.
A scooterist had suffered a fracture in his left leg after losing balance on a table top, and a woman, who was riding pillion on a bike, was killed near Transport Light Point, Sector 26, after being flung off the two wheeler that lost balance while trying to negotiate the table top speed breaker.
So far, table tops have already been constructed at three points — Housing Board Light point, Transport Light Point, and Sector 32 roundabout.
The Chief Engineer of UT administration, CB Ojha, said, “There were certain shortcomings in the previous table tops that were constructed. Those have been sorted out. At least 8 locations were selected to have such speed breakers and work for construction of the same has started at Sector 60, 61, 62 junction on Vikas Marg.”
The motive behind the construction of table tops, he said, was to reduce the speed of vehicles, which helps reduce number of road accidents
and in-turn provides safe passage to pedestrians and cyclists.
“The construction of table tops should be according to the Indian Road Congress (IRC), which is the supreme body of road/highway engineers in India. After the road accident near Transport Light Point, Sector 26, where the table top was constructed at all four sides, many shortcomings came to light. The shortcomings included the absence of alert signages, reflectors — like cat eyes etc. These were later resolved,” said a resident.
According to the IRC guidelines, raised table top crossings may be introduced on slip roads, with a minimum 20-second pedestrian signal, to allow pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road safely. Table top with flat surface are to be preceded and succeeded by a gradient. The guidelines also suggest that at grade pedestrian crossing, both near intersection and mid-block, and raised pedestrian crossing (table top), should be made mandatory in case of multilane roads with heavy volume of vehicular traffic.
The table tops must be raised from the road surface, hence, giving a clear vision of the same to motorists and pedestrians.
