[RM Motorsports]

After traffic signal with LEDs on the entire light pole, now LED Kerb Stones are installed at Tulpule Chowk Junction.

It has been less than 7 days since the installation and one of the linking kerb stone is already stolen, therefore the illumination of all the kerb stones was affected.

Mumbai is trying to get innovative but the "CHINDI CHORS" stealing public property will never make it happen. Its just utter waste of money.

[gkveda]

Looks really good. Intention is noble. But, my only hope and wish is, this should not become a safety hazard for pedestrians. The way they have laid cables, I can see it is exposed to rain water and easily Mumbai rains can create pool of water around these stones and pedestrians can get electric shocks because of current leakage in water due to loose connections.

All these can happen if thieves leave them in tact without robbing.

[anjan_c2007]

It amply proves that we do not deserve such safety devices to make our drives safer. The petty thieves who are also morons necessarily outmanoeuvre the system.

Moreover, as @gkveda has rightly pointed out, it is questionable as to whether these devices were at all tested on a long term basis for withstanding safely any water logging, that would be detrimental to other traffic users during heavy rains and flooding for which Mumbai streets are famous.

And lastly, apart from the petty thieves, sometime soon we will also find some drunk and/or moron driver hitting the road divider to either break (heavy vehicle) or dislodge (cars and so on) one or more of these and getting bailed out after paying some petty fines.

[RavSam]

When designing ANYTHING for India we need to always consider that someone will do something bad. Someone will either break it or steal it.

The government had installed Solar street lamps in villages but those panels and batteries were stolen within an year!

The design should be such that it cannot be easily stolen/broken. Embed it inside a cementitious structure or something like that. (Doesn't guarantee that it will last forever but still it's better than nothing.)

[am1m]

Originally Posted by RavSam

The design should be such that it cannot be easily stolen/broken.

Absolutely, I call it the "Indian Railways" school of design. And it works!

Just look at our older IR coaches- everything designed to last and tamper-proof. Heavy, metallic, the fans enclosed in strong wire cages, thick iron chains supporting the fold-able berths. Not elegant, but lasts.

Something like this LED kerb stone thingie was doomed to fail, unless it was going to be over-engineered like crazy, which certainly doesn't seem to be the case going by the pics.

I think the local administrators also know it won't work, even before they give the green-light to such projects. They are doing something just to show they are doing something and the contract will go to some crooked contractor who will end up doing such a shoddy job. Plus, enough money will also be made/spent repairing, re-installing, maintaining. When will we ever break out of this toxic cycle of wasting public funds?!

[RJK]

Instead of wasting money like this, BMC should first fix the roads. I am all for trying new things but not at the cost of what is absolutely essential - the road itself! BMC really takes the cake in setting example of how to waste tax money. Absolute robbery/extortion in the name of Road taxes that we pay on new cars.

Some contractor must have pitched this new scheme with promise of solid kickbacks to the jokers who run the BMC & state govt. They won't fix the roads which will make travel safer but squander tax money like this. Absolutely pathetic

[v12]

Originally Posted by RJK

Instead of wasting money like this, BMC should first fix the roads. I am all for trying new things but not at the cost of what is absolutely essential - the road itself! BMC really takes the cake in setting example of how to waste tax money. Absolute robbery/extortion in the name of Road taxes that we pay on new cars.

Some contractor must have pitched this new scheme with promise of solid kickbacks to the jokers who run the BMC & state govt. They won't fix the roads which will make travel safer but squander tax money like this. Absolutely pathetic

Totall agree with you - this seems to be an utter waste of money. Instead of illuminated blocks, they could have used some illuminated paint so it would shine / reflect in the night. Am sure this kind of project would have cost "cores" of rupees. Lucky vendor!!

[TrackDay]

I wonder what the thieves are going to do with the stolen kerbs ?

Also what is the deal with these so called 'illuminated' Kerbs in the first place ? Looks like pure waste of taxpayers money. Even if they were not stolen, in the end they wont be maintained well and in a year or two will be useless. A simple blinking/warning lamp post or illuminated cats eyes around a solid kerb could have done the trick.

[Akshay1234]

These are going to be half spoilt, and look extremely shoddy within the next 2 years. A similar lifespan to the roads we have in Mumbai. While it looks cool, with the new led street lights its really not needed. Would much prefer smooth roads, and normal road markings and reflectors. What an absolute waste.

[RM Motorsports]

One thing I liked is that these illuminated kerbs can be helpful on roads where street lamps are not working or the road is insufficiently lit.

I passed by them some days ago at night when it was pouring very heavily. And believe me this illuminated kerbs are very useful especially when lot of members have been complaining of very poor visibility in heavy rains due to LED headlamps on modern cars. Even I find very difficult to drive in heavy rains especially at night because LEDs on my Baleno Alpha just ain't helping.

[sagarpadaki]

Correctly placed Retro Reflector strips/ tape / posts would have achieved the same result intended as these illuminated LED blocks at a fraction of cost.

[Vinod_nair]

Instead of wasting public funds on these electronic gizmos, please fix the potholed and drainage system on roads.

We'll be happy with the reflective yellow and white/black paint on the curbs and dividers.

[RavSam]

Originally Posted by am1m

Absolutely, I call it the "Indian Railways" school of design. And it works! ...When will we ever break out of this toxic cycle of wasting public funds?!

Exactly! There is a double laned, wide road where I live where the traffic used to flow in and out without much of a problem.

Then someone decided that it needs a divider and installed them overnight without coloring them.

The result? A scooter guy, unaware of it, crashed and killed himself. Several cars, trucks ran over it during the night time. There were hardly any accidents before that.

Then someone colored it which got washed out in the first few days of rains. It was invisible when the road was submerged in water and caused even more accidents!

After few months they removed it which created a long stretch of depression on the road making two wheelers tumble. Later they filled it with gravel and the net result was that the road became terrible compared to what it was earlier.

To conclude, there should exist a problem before making a solution rather than just assuming it. And even if you still want to do it, then it should improve the existing conditions by doing it wholeheartedly (which I least expect)

[dragracer567]

Originally Posted by RM Motorsports

Mumbai is trying to get innovative but the "CHINDI CHORS" stealing public property will never make it happen. Its just utter waste of money.

Exhibit B of why "Indian don't nice things".

Exhibit A was what happened with the Tejas Express.

To be fair though, vandalism is pretty common in major European cities as well. The only places where you don't see such forms of vandalism are either small and rich police states or places with a strong cultural inclination against vandalism (like Japan).

[sushantr5]

I would say, however innovating solution might look but we are wrong because we are fixing basic problem with some jugad solution which has high bling value.

The problem in the solution:
1. Overall construction does not appear to be made for ages. Plastic Shells will not last with our contrasting weather pattern.
2. Wires dangling here and there will be prone to malfunction
3. Cement Base on which it is fixed looks like will wash away in lightest rain.
4. Imagine the skilled motorist in our country will make sure that the blocks will break on very next day it were fixed.
5. Probability of failure is high and our consistency in maintenance is well known.

We become overenthusiastic to fix basic problem from where we get jugaad approach for solving the problem.

Infrastructure needs to be simple, resilient / long lasting, maintenance free. It is not rocket science but common sense in terms design and execution which is not really abundant in our country.