Traffic barricades have started constricting, totally unabated, every nook and corner of the interior roads and highways in West Bengal. This is probably because they are the most cost-effective mechanism for the administrators to manage traffic with. Team WHEELS reviews the road encroachers.

It has become a growing practice by the traffic administrators to place metal barricades on both National and State Highways as well as interior roads as part of their efforts to regulate traffic and restrain speed. 
Traffic barriers are often found placed singly or in multiple zigzag arrangements on main thoroughfares or at end of exit lanes, along the most probable lines of impact. Sometimes they are also used as single barriers to regulate and decongest the outflowing traffic approaching a busy intersection. 
Traffic barricades were introduced during the late 1980s for security checks by uniformed police personnel. They were placed temporarily and removed once the screening got over. Apparently, the taste of success in controlling road speed may have paved the way for such an unrestricted use of traffic barricades all along the city roads and highways, as the easiest technique to save manpower and cut cost of traffic signals by the administrators.
Sadly, the mindless use of traffic barricades as speed blocks is on the rise. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity said, “We use barricades to control traffic as we lack staff to guard each point.” He admitted that “Although there are other means to slow down traffic — barricade is not necessarily the best option”. The official had no answer when asked why imposition of stiff fines, creating awareness campaigns or use of other methods of slowing down traffic are not resorted to instead.
Astonishingly, in spite of the frequent accidents caused by the traffic barricades themselves, no mention of the same could be found by Team WHEELS under any act or government notification in India. 

The zigzag-barricades result in unnecessary traffic blockades on highways

The Administrative Version
The police state that the barricades have reduced the number of fatal accidents on many roads. They have been installed only in areas that are prone to speeding and accidents, after analysis.
As per Vivek Sahay, Additional Director General of Police & Inspector General of Police, Traffic & Road Safety, West Bengal Police, "Implementation of speed barriers is a traffic calming measure. The speed barrier is mainly aimed at enforcing responsible driving. Highways are not about unlimited speed driving. Unabated speeding is not acceptable."
Vivek Sahay also states that wide roads can be constricted for better management by the use of guard rails. Road intersections without traffic signals can also be effectively controlled. The police also tries to decongest and calm down traffic flow where there is high speed.
He explains, "The protocols are vested upon Western assumptions of strategies such as driving skill maturity,
pedestrian maturity and motorists’ mentality of having to share the roads."
"There are hardly any signboards for pedestrians. These lead to cross-flow of pedestrians. Hence traffic calming is of utmost importance," remarks Sahay.

The barricades make the drivers impatient, who then try to make up for their lost time by speeding

Innovative Traffic Codes 
As per Team WHEELS, metal barricades may be avoided by adapting the following methods of speed calming:
? Road markings may be painted wide across the road surface to communicate better with the drivers. 
? Light indicators for deceleration and acceleration may be developed.
? Distance should be an input to drivers on highways, specifically for market, school, median crossing, road intersections, etc., which should be placed 250 – 500 metres ahead, on high speed zones.
? Repeater speed signs should be introduced to instruct the drivers about continuation of a speed limit. Presently, only single speed limit signs are used without any repeater of finishing sign for the same. It leaves the drivers grossly confused after a distance.
? Audio alerts may be effectively used to control speed.

The speed blockers pose threat to motorists by suddenly appearing out of nowhere

The Motorist Angle
Subroto Ghosh Chowdhury, a wheeler, while travelling through the narrow State Highways in North Bengal fumed, remarking, “How can we move through these barriers if they are placed every 100 metres – at the junction of every side road?”
Swarup Paul, a veteran motorist remarked, “No highways or city roads are spared from speed barriers these days. Authorities make better roads and then try to curb speed. It’s a total farce. Let them not improve the road condition.”

Road Survey Report 
Team WHEELS recently surveyed the maximum sustainable speed on a stretch of 110 km on NH-16 (NH-6) between Kona Expressway and Kharagpur Chowranghee roundabout on Saturday 13 June 2019 at 10 am. The team observed that the whole stretch was incessantly interrupted by speed barriers making the moderately heavy traffic worse. 
What was revealed through the survey was a very sorry state of affairs on highways. The maximum sustainable speed was 60-65 kmph and below, under a defensive driving mode followed by Team WHEELS. As a result, the surveyed stretch which earlier took around 2 hours got choked down to almost 2 hours 30 minutes – a loss of 30 minutes flat.
Moreover, the frequent chicanes (a sharp double bend created to form an obstacle on a motor-racing track or road) through the zigzag barriers across the highways, were a constant botheration to drive through. The team felt that it was an unnecessary hindrance while  driving on the highways, hinting at inability of the administrative authorities to manage the road intersections or encroachments on roads. It was also evident that speed calming was enforced on the motorists with the help of the traffic barriers only and not by utilisation of any other available methods such as the use of traffic sign, signals, rumble strips or police personnel, etc.
It was also very frustrating for the surveying team to continuously queue behind the large commercial vehicles trudging through the tricky chicanes created by the metal barriers within close vicinity blocking the traffic at its rear. 
Team WHEELS felt that overtaking on the highway has also become unsafe due to the speed barriers. A sudden swerve by the vehicle ahead to negotiate through the barriers and thereby suddenly opening the way ahead trying to the overtaking vehicle, actually paves the way to crash on the steel barriers that unexpectedly appear out of nowhere, especially at night. There have been many incidents where cars went out of control and spun across the chicanes on Indian highways or bumped into the cars ahead because of wrongly placed or non-illuminated barricades sitting right across the thoroughfares.

Invisible barricades force motorists to crash stop at night

Reconciliatory Moves
On 18.4.18, taking care of motorist safety, the Delhi Police have revised their standing orders on placement of mobile barricades, after an accident wherein a 21-year-old man was killed. The gist of the revised orders is as follows:
? No barricades should be left unmanned on the roads. 
? Barricades must be numbered so that they can be accounted for during usage.
? Barricades kept during night patrolling have to be removed later to a safe place.
? No barricades should be procured through private sponsors and no commercial or private advertisement shall be allowed on them. Only the names of the districts should be displayed in a uniform manner as per the design approved.
? The placement of barricades should be approved by ACP so that these are not placed at points which cause traffic congestion or inconvenience to public.
? In case there is no proper light on the road due to power failure, fog, rain or smog, the picket-in-charge should inform his seniors and remove the barricades to a safer place. No barricade should be left on the roadside.
Apart from the standing orders over procurement, maintenance and operational usage of mobile barricades, the Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik stated that in case of any mishap due to unmanned barricade, the SHO or Traffic Inspector concerned will be held responsible.
In another case study, a huge public resentment was registered against the announcement of Sathuvachari Police, Vellore, wherein the zonal office of the Indian Bank had sponsored 10 new barricades to be placed on the National Highways. It evoked strong condemnation from social activists who wanted to know why the police preferred sponsored barricades over strict enforcement of traffic rules.
When asked about the barricades on National Highways, officials belonging to the NHAI’s Krishnagiri PIU (Project Implementation Unit) said, “The police must obtain permission from us before placing barricades on NHs. As the court ruled in their favour 4 months ago, we have no role now.”
"NHAI created four and six-lane highways to ensure quick travel and reduce driver fatigue. But this gets obstructed, when police set up barricades," says a former DSP and ex-nodal officer in NH-Vellore Traffic Services.“Though barricades must give adequate time and space for the drivers to negotiate the curves, the placement on NHs in Vellore does not meet the standards,” he added. “When buses find it difficult to curve across the barricaded stretch, one can understand how multi axle vehicles will struggle at such points. This results in traffic jams and defeats the purpose of four and six-lanes,” he added.
“Broad roads are created to ensure hassle-free flow of traffic, but the police’s action is working opposite to this,” said social activist K. Sathiyamoorthy.

The painful driving trials faced by multi-axle vehicles negotiating through the traffic barricades

Court Directives to Police
The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in 2016 ordered that barricades should be placed on State as well as National Highways, with a view to preventing road accidents; they must contain big reflectors that can be seen from a distance of at least 100 metres during night hours and should also be fitted with blinker lights on both sides.
Disposing of a couple of public interest litigation petitions, a Division Bench of Justices K.K. Sasidharan and G.R. Swaminathan directed the police officials to ensure that the barricades were free of advertisements and the stripes on the rails were in alternating orange, fluorescent-red or florescent yellow-green combination.
The court directs, "The City Police Commissioners / Additional Commissioners of Police / Superintendents of Police must approve the exact spot for placement of each barricade in consultation with the officials of National Highways Authority and State Highways department in case barricades are to be placed on the National and State Highways."
"They should also consult the RTOs. The Commissioner / SP must maintain a list of barricades in the area with photographs. The jurisdictional traffic police and officers-in-charge of law and order should undertake an exercise forthwith to identify the unwanted barricades and take steps to remove them," the judges said.
As per ‘The Registrar (Judicial) vs The Director General of Police – a case on 12 December 2017, at Madras High Court, the following was the proceeding: 
The Assistant Inspector General of Police admitted that Section 370 of the Motor Vehicles Act provides for erecting sign boards before the barricades to give notice to motorists. The Police department thereafter agreed to provide reflecting stickers / materials to be placed on the barricades in such a manner that even in the absence of daylight, it would be possible for the drivers to make out the existence of barricades.
The Chief General Manager, National Highways Authority of India, in the counter affidavit submitted that there is no provision under the National Highways Act, 1956, to permit erection of barricades on the National Highways. Yet, the Police Department has placed temporary barricades, without permission, to regulate traffic and control speed limit.
After studying the present scenario of road safety in West Bengal, Team WHEELS feels that the forceful calming of speed by resorting to the unabated use of traffic barricades needs to be seriously reviewed by the administrative authorities to actually help administer the ‘Safe Drive, Save Life’ mantra.