Virtual Safety: India Plans 3D Speed Breakers On Highways And Busy Roads

As part of the transport ministry's latest efforts to reduce the number of road accidents, new speed-bumps will be emplaced, however, they won't have any physical shape. Instead they will be "3D" paintings and will act as virtual speed-bumbs. The idea is to paint lines which will optically create a roadblock forcing the driver or a rider to slow down instead of braking suddenly.

More than 500,000 road accidents take place across India annually, killing 150,000 people every year, according to the government statistics. However, the World Health Organisation pinned the death toll due to poor road safety measures at 200,000 in 2014.

The latest measure is directed at cracking down on dangerous driving as the government aims to decrease road accidents by half.

The 3D painting technique has been implemented in several places including Australia, Europe, the US and New Zealand.

"We are trying out 3D paintings used as virtual speed breakers to avoid unnecessary requirements of speed breakers," Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced on Twitter.  

​Earlier in April, the transport ministry ordered the removal all highway speed-bumps as they were considered hazardous for vehicles driving at top speeds. The move was initiated after the Road Accident Report for 2014 suggested more than 11,000 lives were claimed by road accidents involving either speed-bumps or potholes.

 India is ranked as one of the most dangerous places in the world to drive due to its poor roads and bad driver safety.

Public reaction to the governments planned was mixed on social media.

 

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