[VTEC_Rocks]

The problem with having dividers on the hairpin bends is that if a vehicle bangs into the divider and is stalled, there would be no way to get around that mess. This would lead to few km of clog.
I do agree with you that few people take the shortest way by cutting the curve short. So in this case we have to be extra careful to honk and slow down. Which I'm sure we all do.

[Daewood]

My night driving speed reduces by 40% on a road without dividers due to the blinding lights from the opposite side.
dividers give me a sense of safety even if they aren't 100% safe.

and most of the dividers mainatained by NHAI have reflectors, maybe those maintained by the local bodies aren't well lit.

[gvk]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

True.

Though lets not overlook the +ve of dividers - which IF implemented correctly prevent a car from straying over into oncomming traffic, effectively doubling the impact speed and damage caused (to life and property).
===========
Put on your high-beams when overtaking (as there should be no oncomming traffic whilst youre overtaking anyway).

cya
R

Very rightly said. Unfortunately, in India even after implementation there is no maintenance.

The pictures are pertaining to the busy Begumpet Road at Hyderabad. After a fatal accident, flexible dividers, speed breakers, signal post etc. were erected. Today there is nothing much left.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Amazing. I can see the same thing happening to the ones on the Chennai Turnbulls Road flyover at the sharp curve end --- and I don't put any money on them being replaced when it does.

[PatchyBoy]

Dividers do not cause accidents. Bad drivers do. Lets not blame the system completely. Vandalism is something that is difficult to control, especially on highways where there is very little monitoring.

As long as the driver is in control of the vehicle and is driving at sane speeds and not taking risks on the road, the merits of these dividers far out-weigh the menace.

Cheers,

Rajan

[Mpower]

Firstly, you are not supposed to use high beam in highways. By putting up these dividers with shrubs, we are just encouraging the practice of using high beams.

Suddenly, when there is no divider or the shrub is not high enough, people get blinded and crash into others.

[prasadee]

On several instances there are short lane dividers to prevent vehicles from cross streets turn into the highway. This usually leads to people making U turns at the end of a divider. Slightly moving the bottleneck. The dividers work best if it stretches along the entire highway.

Same deal with speed bumps. Our semi trucks are dangerous, now a speeding truck (I mean empty truck, do loaded trucks move?) that takes off at a speed bump is a flying semi truck. Flying semi trucks are twice as dangerous, they fly and land creating small craters.

All such measures - giant speed bumps, short dividers, and a traffic cop with a whistle near populated areas are usually put after an accident has killed someone, hoping to magically stop future deaths. The dividers these days are much better though. I nth e yester years, we used to have dividers on Hosur road which were 100% instrumented by cops using locally available stones, broken telephone poles etc. which led to bikers line up to jump across these tiny obstacle (to avoid having to ride a few more yards for a U turn).

[shankar.balan]

lane discipline or frankly the lack of it coupled with laziness and self-urgency on the part of drivers and riders (while trying to take a U Turn), are largely what makes our road dividers useless.
apart from that, the constant construction work on the roads, digging by the local water, electricity and telephone authorities compounds the effect.
usage of temporary structures such as a broken twig or branch to indicate open manholes and broken stones and rocks to form makeshift dividers, adds to the chaos.

the authorities are not always to blame, the road users also need to co-operate by following rules, forming proper queues and observing lane discipline.

but here in India, we are a Nation of Nirvana Seekers for the Self and this causes us to become rather selfish, while using the roads - it s always the feeling that "my" own urgency, haste and lack of time are more important than "others" urgency and haste.

[Iluvcars]

Originally Posted by PatchyBoy

Dividers do not cause accidents. Bad drivers do.

I beg to differ. Dividers as such don't contribute to accidents, BUT, unscientific dividers do contribute significantly to accidents. Not just unscientific dividers anything that's unscientific, be it divider, road, bridge, vehicle, licensing system and what not do contribute to accidents. A divider that comes up out of the blue on a road is unscientific.

[Guna]

There will be many more accidents without the dividers. Simple.
Yellow lines and solid lines etc work in a place where people are aware of the rules and go by the rules. They dont work well here.

[androdev]

If I have an option, I always prefer to take a road with divider. Many mentioned valid points and here are few more:
1. Cautious drivers don't get into a frontal collision because some idiot tried to overtake without looking ahead.
2. Frontal collisions are more likely to be fatal because the relative velocities add up and dividers are good at avoiding frontal collisions.
3. Our city streets don't provide any help to pedestrian crossing, dividers allow people to cross the road in two steps.

More dividers please

[shishir_bn]

Originally Posted by androdev

If I have an option, I always prefer to take a road with divider. Many mentioned valid points and here are few more:
1. Cautious drivers don't get into a frontal collision because some idiot tried to overtake without looking ahead.
2. Frontal collisions are more likely to be fatal because the relative velocities add up and dividers are good at avoiding frontal collisions.
3. Our city streets don't provide any help to pedestrian crossing, dividers allow people to cross the road in two steps.

More dividers please

All these holds good when the divider is just 1/2 ft height. What if the divider is 3/4ft high and imagine you are driving next to the divider and suddenly a dog/cow/a motorist puts his face cutting you perpendicularly. This is a scary thing and if encountered just pray to god that your car stops at the correct time. But the problem is on the divider side people don't stop the cars suddenly unless a traffic signal is present. So the cars from behind will kiss from behind when stopped to avoid a collision.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Firstly, you are not supposed to use high beam in highways. By putting up these dividers with shrubs, we are just encouraging the practice of using high beams.

then where to use high-beam? i presume you are saying we should not use high-beam when there is an on-coming traffic, is it?

OT--sad to see that in a place like Hyd. riders are allowed to go lid-less

[anainar]

I dont understand who is complaining about dividers. It may be inconvenient at times, but most of the time it helps. Atleast in Bangalore. Otherwise entire road will be taken over by vehicles going in one direction, blocking the on coming traffic. One can see that in signals where there are no dividers.

And in a highway, divider gives that extra confidence that normal people wont come in the opposite direction. Yes, there are morons, but they are not one too many I guess, atleast on the high way.

Dividers bring some sanity and a little less stressed out driving experience.

Nainar

[shishir_bn]

After seeing this link IMO no one will complain about the divider and everyone will accept it. If there was a divider at the crossing/turn this would not have happened. See for yourself.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian...ml#post1770711