Bumps of all kinds can be seen on the nation’s highways. They are constructed, ostensibly, with the intention to serve as speed limiters of some sort. Some of them actually succeed in slowing down the vehicles but that is where the story ends. Driving on the highways with those bumps can induce a nightmarish experience and often cause not just damage to the vehicles but also accidents that can be fatal.
Elsewhere, such bumps are called rumble strips, but they have other names such as sleeper lines, growlers, or even woo boards. They can be raised or indented, that is cut into the asphalt or made of raised pieces of asphalt, or even plastic or metal strips or hobnails bolted to the road. They serve to provide both an auditory and tactile warning when driven over to alert the driver to an upcoming hazard or edge of the roadway/lane. If the driver dozes off and drifts out of lane, the noise and jolt will wake him up. Ones that are set across the roadway are typically there to warn traffic of an upcoming hazard, such as an intersection, speed limit change, particularly on sections of road that have few interruptions where there is a high chance of highway hypnosis setting in.
However, a journey through Nigeria’s road network will reveal that these bumps are not only many but are dangerously so close to each other that it becomes counter-productive in the sense that they achieve the opposite of what they were put there for. It is worse in places where the road is already in a state of disrepair which means that in itself, is a speed breaker that requires no other bump to add to the nightmare. Another danger of having those bumps on the highway is that in Nigeria, they are not professionally done in a manner that will make them achieve the set goal of compelling perceived reckless drivers to comply with Highway Code of driving.
The inconvenience such bumps constructed on the whim became noticeable to the National Council on Works which approved the constitution of a task force to sensitise Nigerians and facilitate the removal of illegal and inappropriate speed bumps from the Nigerian roads as well as determine the correct location and types of speed bumps to be erected on the nation’s highways.
According to the Council, most of the road traffic crashes which occur on the highways could be traced to the presence of inappropriate speed bumps which do not comply with contemporary global standards on road markings and signage. It therefore endorsed the constitution of a special task force to be led by the Federal Controllers of Works in each state, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Police, State Traffic Management Agencies and affected communities to facilitate the removal of illegal and inappropriate speed bumps from Nigerian highways, in addition to determining the exact location and type of speed bumps to be erected on our highways as part of measures to reverse the trend of avoidable road traffic crashes.
The Federal Road Safety Corps’ sustained initiatives towards enthroning safer road use in Nigeria such as the reduction of speed limit violation through the introduction of speed limiters on vehicles ought to be sufficient measure to check highway abuse. This can be complemented if need be, with a scheme to educate road users about safety as well as enforce the law against unqualified drivers. These are rules that if well applied will bar those category of drivers from using the highways thereby reducing the danger they pose to themselves and other citizens while at the same time eliminating the incompetent construction of speed bumps by some locales.
We insist that speed bumps are not needed on, especially, the so called expressways. Their arbitrary introduction on feeder roads is an abuse, in our view, and cannot be rationalised under any circumstance. If those who indulge in these illegal actions are inclined to ensure safety in the areas concerned, they should first obey the law that stipulates that a safe distance from the road must be observed while erecting any structures. If this is enforced and coupled with the efforts by the FRSC the roads will be safe enough for everyone not to require any ill-designed speed bump.
