Bruised undercarriages bear testimony to our continued refusal to see reason, logic or commonsense; yes a bump on the city roads slows down traffic so that they don’t speed or break rules…. Wait doesn’t it even sound ridiculous suggesting it? We in India have a tendency to approach the problem from the wrong end, the problem of traffic obedience solved by enforced back breakers!
Bangalore is probably amongst the most bump infested metro in our country, the problem is so systemic that a citizen of this city gives distance and directions by the bumps, he/she is perplexed when a junction lacks one and would probably not even notice if he/she were riding a camel and not a car. If you thought those were the only problems then you are naïve, the four-lane Bangalore – Mysore expressway has bumps, bumps have bumps, they come in duets, triads, quartets and quintets. They even have personalities, some are tiny (teeth jarring), some are soft and round (did we go over a cow?), some are as large as the wheel base of the car (elevators) and some are downright mean with vertical walls (bruisers/bouncers).
It is the classic dilemma of enforcement vs. self discipline; unfortunately it requires both, incentives for self discipline and enforcement to ensure you like the incentives. As usual we approach the problem from wrong end and instead of heavily fining traffic violators we put a bump, fines will eventually make Indians better drivers holistically but bumps will only try and contain one problem. I agree there will be corruption and you and I will pay off to get out of a larger fine but even that will ensure we avoid unnecessarily pay offs right (or are you stinking rich or a megalomaniac)? But that’s no fun when compared to surprising a driver with an unmarked bump and watching with pleasure as the car violently reacts.
What really cooks my goose is that even the bumps have a nasty sense of humor, you see a small innocuous looking bump and slow down a little you and your cocky car can easily handle this right (?) and what happens next is essentially you are ready to go into labor. Yes there are good surprises too, where you see a large bump too late and you suck in your gut and grit your teeth and you just go over the bump as if you just rose up in a dream and lightly came down. Life just has a nasty sense of humor; thank god it has one though!