In a city where roads are synonymous with potholes, traffic calming devices such as cat’s eyes (reflective studs), rubber speed breakers, and rumble strips, as well as markings like zebra crossings, play an incalculable role in ensuring the safety of motorists and pedestrians. The Indian Road Congress has laid out several rules and regulations on how these devices and lane markings are supposed to be planned out and maintained. However, a visit by mid-day to five locations across the city revealed that due to the constant flow of heavy traffic and the vagaries of Indian weather, numerous physical and visual safety measures were in a sorry state, with erased lane markings being a common sight.

Vedant Mhatre, programme manager of the Walking Project, an advocacy group, told mid-day, “The BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation] claims it follows a two-year cycle of repainting lane markings, but it needs to be understood that due to humidity and intense rain, along with the heavy traffic, we need to look into a smaller time gap between repainting our roads.”

He added, “When we asked MMRDA [Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority] officials what materials they used while the roads of the Bandra Kurla Complex were being painted, they replied cold plastic paint, a coat of which lasts for a long time and is thick. The BMC, on the other hand, uses thermoplastic paint, which is thinner than regular paint.” Mhatre also says that though cold plastic paint is costly, it lasts long and does not require frequent repaints, which would also save the BMC money in the long term.