Roads Authority (RA) has cautioned people against raising speed humps on roads to calm traffic, saying the conduct violates the Public Roads Act, which empowers the authority to raise such features. The authority’s senior public relations officer Alice Chinthochi was responding toThe Nationquestionnaire yesterday after spot checks on some roads in Blantyre established that residents had erected speed humps along the Limbe-Machinjiri Road and within Bangwe and Manja townships. She said the authority was responsible for traffic-calming measures on roads under its jurisdiction while city councils handle road networks within their boundaries.
She said: “Roads Authority is collaborating with councils, police and community groups to curb the illegal practice. “When this malpractice is identified, RA enforces the provisions of the Public Roads Act, which stipulates penalties for such violations.” Chinthochi said while soil humps may not cause permanent road damage, they can lead to accidents and damage vehicles. Motorist Gift Stanley said illegal humps are dangerous because some people are just dumping soil and in some cases stones without defined engineering specifications.
“However, they are causing accidents and damaging cars,” he said. Minibus driver Henry Magombo, who operates on the Limbe-Machinjiri route, said the unapproved humps make driving risky. “They disturb us when we are driving because they are not standard.
[paywall]
Proper humps are important, but only when they are done by authorities,” he said. Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences head of Civil Engineering Department Associate Professor Innocent Kafodya said speed humps should follow defined engineering specifications. “A standard hump should be 100 to 152 millimetres in height, 0.9 to 4.3 metres wide, parabolic in shape, with a gradient between 1:10 and 1:20 and spaced 80 to 100 metres apart,” he said. Kafodya warned that makeshift humps made of loose soil can damage vehicles and cause accidents due to lack of signage, adding they also interfere with drainage systems.
[/paywall]
