Speed Governors Mandatory in Kerala

[Steeroid]

For the last one week, heavy vehicles in the state have had to mandatorily fit speed governors that restrict their max speed to 40 kmph.

While this has made roads safer, the move has been met with resentment by owners of these heavy vehicles. In the past one week, tanker lorries in the state have gone on strike in a bid to hold the state to ransom by throttling its fuel supply - its obvious why the tanker lorries have been the ones to strike work.

As of today, the RTO has stopped issuing fitness certificates to any heavy vehicle that is NOT fitted with a sealed speed governor. They have also threatened to impound any such vehicle found running on the roads.

Bus owners have complained that the move will affect the common man as buses would no longer be able to stick to their schedules.

As of today, the CBSE schools management association has asked the Government to exempt them from the speed-governor clause. Apparantly the cost of the speed-governor is more important to them than the life of the kids that travel in these buses.

The KSRTC has apparently been testing these speed-governors on a 100 buses for a few months now and the results of the study are interesting:

1. These buses have NEVER run on time and the long distance buses are late by an hour (w.r.t their time-tables) after being fitted with these devices.

2. Fuel efficiency has gone up by an average of 5kmpl (!!!!!)

3. These buses have recorded significantly lower wear and tear, with far lower replacement of common components like brake pads, horns and suspension components. The number of accidents reported is also less than the KSRTC average (wonder what THAT is!!!)

4. The drivers of these buses are not very happy with the pick-up of these vehicles post-speed governor. They say its not just the top speed thats been restricted but their ability to accelerate and thus to overtake even slow-moving vehicles on the highway.

5. Therefore KSRTC feels that the regulated top-speed should be increased to at least 60 kmph.

What do you guys think? Good idea or bad? I personally think the roads in Kerala are far safer when the bus drivers are unable to imitate F1 drivers. The number of people killed by these buses every year is not a joke, and most of these incidents can be traced back to irresponsible, immature driving and competitive races between these buses.

[typeOnegative]

Saar, what about the thrill one gets when we sit in the Harippad-Thiruvananthapuram Super Fast and our driver annan puts a brick on his pedal and then proceeds to give us the ride of our life? Now KSRTC and all those interesting private bus rides are going to get so boring.

:(


On a serious note, what is the stance of the 'unions' on this? And sadly we have such stupid protests in the supposedly most literate state of the country.

[vivekiny2k]

i have not seen kerala, but Chennai is definitely dangerous because oif the bus drivers.
racing buses are very common. stopping anywhere to offload and load people. starting from he stop and going to right most lane at an angle of 60 degrees and blocking whole of traffic.

in addition, we have double decker buses (back to back, not one on top of another) getting in smallest possible space, and then jamming the roads for hours.

They definitely need speed governors, but need to be educated on how to drive a bus, first.

[sandeepmdas]

The device will allow the driver to accelerate and drive the vehicle well above the 40 kmph limit, but only for 1-2 minutes. After that the device will slow the vehicle down to 40 kmph automatically.

This will certainly boost the overall road safety.

Perhaps it will also signal the end of long distance KSRTC services. Already these buses are under immense pressure from the railways. The cost of a fast passenger bus ticket between Trivandrum and Varkala is Rs.25 and time needed is 105 minutes now. Both these parameters are expected to increase within next 3 months. Compare that with the cost of express train travel (Rs.21 per ticket or Rs. 160 per month) and the time taken? Just 35 minutes. And it will be an even shorter journey once the railway electrification is completed by the end of this year.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by typeOnegative

Saar, what about the thrill one gets when we sit in the Harippad-Thiruvananthapuram Super Fast and our driver annan puts a brick on his pedal and then proceeds to give us the ride of our life?

Well it means that you can now be reasonably sure that it wont be the LAST ride of your life...

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Well it means that you can now be reasonably sure that it wont be the LAST ride of your life...

*LOL* But there was an old saying in CET, courtesy the Ernakulam guys -

On the NH-47, you are safer in a KSRTC bus than out of it.

[Abhay]

Altho bad driving by trucks/buses is common, 40kph is very low speed.
But it looks like the situation is quite bad with the State transport buses there

I am all for increasing power of trucks so that they do not "crawl" on inclines with heavy loads causing traffic jams and more pain to people behind. But then they should be better trained to handle the power too.

[k_ajay]

The speed governor is a good idea, and should also be implemented in chennai.... Drivers here need to be shot for the way the drive the bus, like consider driving an M-800 and not a BUS...

Maybe they can raise the speed limit to 60.... 40 is a lil less, don't ya peeps agree???

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Abhay

Altho bad driving by trucks/buses is common, 40kph is very low speed.
But it looks like the situation is quite bad with the State transport buses there

I am all for increasing power of trucks so that they do not "crawl" on inclines with heavy loads causing traffic jams and more pain to people behind. But then they should be better trained to handle the power too.

You bet the situation is very bad here - not just with the State transport buses, but with the infamous private superfasts too.

On the other hand, you had the KSRTC 'Lightning Express' which used to cover Trivandrum - Cochin in 4 hours flat (no matter WHAT the conditions were) which wont be able to do the same distance in 6 hours now...

As for trucks crawling up inclines, the solution may be to increase torque and limit top speed.

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by k_ajay

Maybe they can raise the speed limit to 60.... 40 is a lil less, don't ya peeps agree???

Agreed. Though 40 for short distance buses and 60-65 for long distance ones makes more sense.

[Conan]

Originally Posted by Abhay

I am all for increasing power of trucks

I guess you havent experienced huge volvo buses coming up fast in the rear view mirror and honk away. And the distance they tail gate is at best 10'-15'.

But 40kmph is low, and all it will serve is make the roads more clogged.
Imagine one bus overtaking the other and both are pushing it. Once the same thing happened on Blore - Tumkur highway here. Two fully loaded trucks were trying to overtake eachother at 30kmph and the whole road was blocked. There was a huge caravan of 20-30 cars following them. No amount of honking changed the situation.
So 60-70 kmph speed limit should be adequate.

[sandeepmdas]

Guys, thats what I said, you can drive a governor-fitted bus at any speed, but only for a couple of minutes. This will serve as an overtaking window.

[tsk1979]

I spent 4 years in kerala in REC calicut. In these 4 years i saw many things which i had never seen before, but one thing which i found the wierdest was the buses. I used to think Haryana Roadways drivers with their buses doing 100kmph on NH1 were suicidal. Kerala changed my perceptions. Have you sat in a bus, going downhill at 90kmph parallel to another bus on a road which is just as wide as the two buses, with a sharp blind right turn looming 100meters ahead. Its a game of which driver loses nerve first, or which vehicle comes from the blind curve. Forget the monster truck rallys they show on AXN. This is the real thing. If somebody had told me that Ashok leyland buses can execute powerslides, i would not have believed it, but having sat in them has really shook all my beliefs.
On the Speed governer issue, i would say definately a welcome move. KSRTC and kerala private bus drivers are the most dangerous drivers i have ever seen. They make delhi blueline bus drivers look like kindergarten kids. I have seen people taking theirs cars off the road when they see a bus in their windscreens. Infact at our college bus stop was the first time i saw a bus stop with a 20 meter long skid, and then take of with a wheelspin in the rainy season.

[bigman]

Haryana and Punjab bus drivers have to be amongst the worst in the country. They drive their buses as if they were competing a time trial for a rally championship. They have very little regard for other road users. It is time that all buses and heavy vehicles across India had speed restricters and anyone caught tampering with them sent to jail for a few months. These morons have caused enough deaths in India.

Several years ago a relative hired a car in Punjab to get to IGI Airport in Delhi. On the way there 2 idiot bus drivers were racing each other side by side. The relatives car was approaching them with trees on either side he could not get out the way. The bus drivers carried on racing. My relative survived but the poor driver died as his head was severed from his body, he left behind a wife and child who now have no means to look after themselves. The ******* bus drivers got away with it as well. They should have been strung up for this.

I am sure most bus users would not mind being late for an hour or so if it means it reduces road deaths. They can simply catch an earlier bus.

[typeOnegative]

Originally Posted by bigman

Several years ago a relative hired a car in Punjab to get to IGI Airport in Delhi. .... The ******* bus drivers got away with it as well. They should have been strung up for this.

Now that well and truly sucked. Big time.