[PRO77]

Here is an image I took while travelling on AP and TS highways. These barrels and barricades meant for reducing speed were dangerous enough on 4-lane highways but they are even more so on 2-lane highways. We had many close calls with these; they can very deadly and can cause serious crashes. Please let me understand my dear BHPians' view.

[Raghu M]

After reading the title, I thought it was indeed smart. I think it is misleading. Please change the title, it's no smart move. It's a dangerous one that has no rule book or any kind of scientific backing. You place those drums or police barricades wherever you want and hope that it will reduce speed or help you in checking vehicles but it's dangerous and has led to umpteen no. of accidents. There are no warning signs, no change in tarmac or any kind of warning for a regular driver.

[AlphaLamb]

These barrels are as "Smart" at managing speed (traffic) as are the metal barricades put up on the junctions of national highways around the country, though on my travels through highways in TN, it almost seems like the authorities there have perfected the placement of metal barricades to an art .

These, I believe are stop gap arrangements made by authorities (who do not wish to expend their efforts to put in well regulated and non hazardous measures) which tend to become a permanent measure until they end up becoming the cause of an accident themselves.

[DicKy]

Seriously the authorities really need a lesson on what a highway is, what a major road is, what a minor road is and the concept of a slip road.

Ofcourse they are aware of the above, but take the easy way out to cover up the infrastructure or regulation shortcomings. In Tamilnadu, the barricades have become a sort of advertisement/sponsoring board for the nearby big textiles/ jewellery businesses.

If they don't have slip roads or can't have traffic signals at 90° four way junctions, find some way to slow down the traffic from the smaller roads. Most of these four way junctions should not exist the way they are designed. Good thing is in many places in South Tamilnadu they are building flyovers over the big junctions, but on the other hand the newly built NH66 stretch in south Kerala has a couple of four way junctions thanks to vote bank politics and barricades have sprung up a la Tamilnadu style.

[adi.mariner]

These barrels are actually part of the Moose Test and are placed to see the handling of the cars and reaction times of the Drivers. They have nothing to do with reducing speed or safety.

[anshu1101]

Not sure if the title was meant to sound sarcastic, but I think it comes off as misleading.

On the topic of these drums/barrels used as barricades, they are definitely a nuisance. A "jugaad" put in place to make up for the lack of more scientific measures to help reduce speed. A big hazard if one is not careful around these.

[HappyWheels]

Such barricades are rampant across Tamil Nadu (not drums but steel barriers). They are usually placed on the highway where there is a crossing. Hate them to the core. Yes, they do force people to slow down, but also causes traffic blocs and also accident, especially with one that are placed on turns, with no fore warning.

Sad that other states are following this unscientific approach. But hey, hitting a plastic drum is safer than steel barricades, I guess.

[GTO]

Mod Note: Thread title has been updated.

[ABHI_1512]

Everyone has already said that the thread title is misleading, so not going to add anymore to it. As far as barrels or barricades go, yes they are hazardous but still the best shot for saving the lives of many people. We here in West Bengal have been seeing these barricades on the national highways since long.

Most of the four lane highways in the state are used randomly by people living on both sides of the highways and they have even gone to the extent of making openings through the median dividers to cross the highways. These mindless crossings have put the authorities in a fix. While this problem can be solved by making underpasses and putting crash barriers across the highways, it’s anybody’s guess how many one can make !!

So, the authorities have come up with this ingenious idea of putting these barricades and barrels to slow down cars and trucks. They have actually created a bigger problem for cars and most dangerously for the trucks. I have found many a trucks swerve dangerously before the barricades and it’s about time that the authorities come up with something that will not put lives in danger- both of the pedestrians as well as the ones sitting inside the machines. One good thing, at least in West Bengal, they usually remove these barricades during the night. I hope NHAi in tandem with the local authorities finds a more judicious and prudent way to save lives which probably they know already but don’t have the means or intent to implement on the ground !!

And until something better comes up, we all have to drive cautiously and with our eyes wide open !!

[antz.bin]

The way I see them, these chicanes are installed by the local police who are sick of all the accidents happening at the spot due to people driving the speed limit unaware that they should slow down for something that exists there but the driver was not made aware of.

These chicanes should have been included in the highway at the construction/design phase but since the right people didn't do it, the local police had to take matters into their own hands in the interest of saving lives. But since they are the police and not highway designers, they will obviously do a shoddy job because this is supposed to be an MVP release of the Chicane. Something that had to be done because the road designers *forgot*.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by ABHI_1512

One good thing, at least in West Bengal, they usually remove these barricades during the night.

In Tamilnadu they just make the gap wider and space the barricades a little afar. So in effect, one vehicle can go through the gap straight without the need for swerving. But they won't remove it completely.

Another pleasant but macabre effect of fatal accidents is that now the small road traffic actually stops and looks both sides before proceeding, unlike earlier when they would just zip past with abandon.

[Abhisheknott]

Originally Posted by PRO77

We had many close calls with these; they can very deadly and can cause serious crashes. Please let me understand my dear BHPians' view.

The barricades/barrels are mostly at junctions where the good town folk pay no heed to fact that there is a highway and cross at will.
The authorities, instead of ensuring a pedestrian bridge find this easier.
It also helps vehicles taking a U turn as they don't have to wait.
As always the car is taken for a ride.

[SR-71]

Similar hare brained approaches in traffic management in highways can be seen across NHs in Tamilnadu where steel barricades are used. It get more dangerous in the night and specially during the monsoon. I have personally seen accidents happen due to tipped over barricades. Karnataka approaches the same problem with speed breakers on NHs. My complaint to NHAI elicited a ridiculous response that such speed breakers were laid to scientific proportions. There is no dearth of nincompoops and their hare brained ideas in our country. We can discuss all we want, but I don’t see these problems going away anytime soon. This needs a change of mindset at bureaucratic level. Hopefully the next generation of bureaucrats and cops come up with better and safer ways to manage traffic and related issues.

[PRO77]

First of all
I am very sorry for the title of the thread I actually meant it sarcastically .
Next i would like to add that the image i have uploaded represents a 2 lane highway in which cars carrying momentum have been first forced to swerve and then move to the opposite lane in which similar happens, here i would like to add another point that not only barrels but also barricades and fibre glass beams are also present.Here in the situation 2 cars cannot pass simultaniously in a ‘highway’ and cars carry momentum so swerving and then going to the opposite lane to face high speed traffic is not the kind of road safety our enthusiast community is preaching right .
I have uploaded this thread to increase everyone’s awareness regarding this kind of unsafe methods and to bring a change for better .
(Sorry for typos and grammatical mistakes as you can see in my profile im a newbie here .)
Peace !!

[anjan_c2007]

Wonder what happens when two speeding cars from opposite directions are forced to converge on that single lane kept open by these persons in uniform ? It can very well be a dangerous head-on. No warning signs anywhere and hence the motorists will face the constriction just upon reaching there.

It has lately become a common practice across many states almost all over the country. Some use barrels while others use barricades. But both these "barrs" bar the motorists' seamless drive. Not sure how many fugitives, criminals and errant drivers have been duly apprehended using such crude speed barriers?

But one fact we are extremely sure and sanguine about is that at most spots where these are placed, the law enforcers can slow down and stop the traffic, and hence stop quite many motorists to extract bribes.