Addis Abeba gets speed humps for 10 accident-prone roads in the city in a bid to reduce traffic accidents. The Addis Abeba City Road Traffic Management Agency, has invested 62 million Br for the project and additional safety works.
The roads with the new speed humps were selected based on their level of sloppiness and record of causing at least three fatal accidents annually. The placing of the speed humps begun last week.
They will be installed on the roads going from Torhayloch to Mendida, Keranio to Bethel, Bethel to Torhayloch, Number Three Mazoriya to Zenebework Bridge and Hanamariam to Tuludimtu. Additionally, the speed humps will be placed on the main road from Bole to Saris Abo, and the roads linking the Jakros area before Goro to Summit and the Jackros-Sahlite Mihiret Road.
There are different types of speed humps such as rubber, cobblestone and concrete. The Agency plans to select an asphalt type because of its cost-effectiveness, material availability and easiness to bond with asphalt roads, according to Ashu Sintayehu, operations’ director at the Agency.
The size of each of the speed humps and the rumble strips depends on the speed limits of the respective roads. The rumble strips are a set of corrugated pavements that cause rumbling and vibration when driven over them to warn drivers to be alert for what is approaching on the road.
The Agency will also install other road safety measures that reduce speed. Fencing that forbids pedestrians from crossing streets except on zebra crossings, and vertical posts known as bollards to guide traffic and protect pedestrian roads from intrusion by vehicles will be used.
Road studs – flashing devices used to delineate road edges and centerlines – with focus given to road curves will also be placed, according to Ashu. The entire project kill fight traffic accidents caused as a result of speed, according to him.
“The major causes of traffic accidents are speed, which is why we focus on it particularly,” Ashu told Fortune. “Depending on the type of the road, speed humps could reduce fatal traffic accidents by up to 70pc.”
Rocket Construction & General Trading Plc is carrying out the construction, after winning a bid back in January, and expects to complete the project by next year. Established in 2009, it was previously awarded by the Addis Abeba Traffic Agency to construct a parking lot at Churchill Road and at Ras Mekonnen Bridges using a new technology called Rotary Parking, according to Alem Girmay, owner and general manager of the company.
Consultancy and supervision are being carried out by the engineering department of the Agency.
“The project aims to reduce accident and protect the public from fatal deaths,” said Tamene Belle, public relation director of the Agency.
The Agency has, before this, installed speed humps on roads across the city, including Aware to Comoros Street and Sidist Kilo to Afincho Ber.
Berhanu Zeleke (PhD), who has worked at the Urban Development Studies Department of Urban Transport Management for over two decades applauds the move.
“But it will take a lot more to reduce traffic accidents,” he told Fortune. “The problem is deep-rooted, relating to the design of the roads, and attitudes of the drivers and pedestrians.”
In the first six months of this past fiscal year alone, while 2,315 people have died as a result of car accidents, 266 million Br worth of property has been damaged, according to the Federal Police Commission.
The Federal Transport Authority (FTA) is currently in the process of constructing a 300 million Br training institute to curb the nation’s high traffic accident rate.
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