The much-hyped tyre killers that were recently installed at Noida’s Sector 41-50 U-turn to curb wrong-side driving have been damaged.
The Noida Authority claimed that they have been tempered with so that offenders can continue violating the traffic rules. But the residents say that they were of faulty design and had increased the risk of accidents and damage to low-floor cars.
Two tyre killer were installed in Noida — one near Capetown on the road between Sectors 74 and 77 and the other one at the U-turn of Sector 41-50. In future, there are plans to install tyre killers at Sector 77 North Eye junction, Sector 76 metro station, Sai Mandir U-turn at Sector 61 and near Sector 16A flyover.
Local residents were exasperated that the Noida Authority had not installed them properly as they claimed that spikes on the killers pointed in the wrong direction, which could lead to accidents. “Tyre killer were not installed professionally. They were broken at points and could cause accident and injury to people. The authority should either do it professionally or not do it all,” said Sumit Kumar, a daily commuter.
"They should be reinstalled by fixing them under the road so that low-floor cars don’t get damaged,” he added.
PK Garg, project engineer of Noida Authority, said that the repair work of tyre killer will soon start. "Noida Authority had spent lakhs of money on the installation of these tyre killers. This time we will repair it keeping in mind that no complaints arise in future,” he added.
Pune was the first Indian city to have installed tyre killers. But they were soon removed as they reportedly became a threat to public safety — causing accidents as deflated tyres caused drivers to lose control — than a deterrent against wrong-side driving.
Tyre killers are essentially metal strips that acts as speed breaker for those driving on the right side. But if someone is driving on the wrong side, then its spring-operated spikes puncture the tyres of vehicles.
