KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Director General of Police (DGP) to instruct his subordinate officers to remove all boards and obstacles placed on National Highways, State Highways and other roads in the state, as speedbreakers.However, the court said the police were free to adopt any other methods to control speed.“Cameras may be installed at various places to identify overspeeding vehicles,” court said.A Division Bench comprising Acting Chief Justice C N Ramachandran Nair and Justice P S Gopinathan passed the order while considering a petition filed by Mohanan Pillai of Alappuzha, alleging that speedbreakers cause obstruction to the free flow of traffic.He said the speedbreakers were placed on roads in an irresponsible and unscientific manner. “The DGP should instruct police officers to remove boards placed for controlling over speed. By installing cameras, the time taken by vehicles to travel from one place to the other can be understood, which will provide clear evidence of over speed in the distance covered,” the court said.The petitioner had submitted that the police had placed huge advertisement boards as speed breakers on highways and other roads. The speedbreakers of more than five feet height obstruct the vision of drivers. Similarly, there is a possibility for overtaking vehicles to run into these breakers as they are placed in an unscientific manner, the petitioner submitted.However, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) submitted that they had not placed any speedbreakers made of steel on the NH 47 and NH 17. “Roads are designed for free flow of traffic. The NHAI had not given any sanction for placing such boards. It is very dangerous to keep all types of barricades on a high-speed track and the same will definitely cause accidents,” the NHAI said.
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