Lahore: DHA residents demand reflectors on speed breakers

[LahoreEstate]

* Residents say ideal solution is ‘cat’s eyes instead of speed breakers’
* Say over-speeding drivers often hit speed breakers and swing out of control

By Afnan Khan

LAHORE: Residents of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) have requested the authority to install reflectors on speed breakers present on the roads connecting Ghazi Road with Bhatta Chowk in Defence, Daily Times has learnt.

Residents have reported a number of accidents due to the absence of reflectors, which have been installed on only a few speed breakers in the residential locality.

Ideal solution: Residents were of the view that the installation of reflectors, instead of speed breakers, would be a more viable solution. Even if accompanied by reflectors, drivers often fail to notice speed breakers, and consequently, cars travelling at high speeds fail to slow down in time, causing damage to cars and being nuisance for drivers, they said.

Residents say the glow of reflectors diminishes with the passage of time, and they require maintenance; something the DHA is not very particular about. Most speed breakers in the society had not been painted in the recent past, residents said.

Moreover, residents complain the speed breakers are not set up in accordance with the standard height and width. Due to these complications, the residents have declared the installation of reflectors a more viable solution to warn drivers of an upcoming intersection.

Cause of accidents: A resident of Sector Z, Lutafullah Khan, said the speed breakers, apart from being a nuisance for drivers, were also the cause of various accidents, as several vehicles swung out of control after hitting the speed breakers at high speeds.

He said residents had lodged complaints against speed breakers present between Bhatta Chowk and sectors Y, Z, CC, DD and EE. He said he could hear cars hitting the speed breakers at high speeds from his bedroom, especially during the recent spell of fog. “DHA has installed reflectors on various speed breakers in response to our complaint, but still, a significant number of speed breakers are without reflectors,” he said.

Khan said the presence of speed breakers was justified, as all kinds of public and private transport vehicles used these roads, adding that those drivers who were not regular visitors of the the DHA found the speed breakers an inevitable obstruction.

DHA Residents Association President Muhammad Sadiq told Daily Times that the removal of these speed breakers was one of the objectives of the association, which had already taken up the matter with the DHA administration. DHA spokesman Tajamul Hussain Anjum said the administration had stopped constructing such speed breakers within the society, and it was concentrating on adopting modern methods of controlling the flow of traffic. He said the administration would ask the department concerned to fix the speed breakers, and the issue would be resolved accordingly.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg13_1