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Originally Posted by Karooo An Octavia with 180bhp should not be lumped together with a 1.3 litre Ciaz when the road is mostly empty IMO. Sadly, there are very few places in Mumbai where you can enjoy your performance car. |
But thats precisely the mentality that needs to change. Just bcoz I have a 183 bhp car, doesn't mean that I exercise it towards its full potential on *public* roads.
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Originally Posted by Karooo I do agree that motorists should follow the law but I hope they increase the speed limit in the freeway since it's mostly empty with not much traffic. |
That is a fair ask. Just do the needful to follow the process and get the speed limits changed, however long the process takes. But till that materializes, we need to follow the law like the word of God. Thats a culture-change we need.
I lived in the US for over a decade. There was a time when their roads were suited for 150 kmph driving (road-quality wise as well as safety/visibility-wise), but even then the posted speed limit was 55 mph for more than a decade (ie. less than 90 kmph). And guess what, a vast majority of the people would stay at 95 kmph or below speeds (exceeding limit by only 5 kmph, which is typically forgiven). You would have the occasional rogue who would zip at 160 kmph, but hey, there are exceptions everywhere, but they were a minority.
(after several decades, they hiked the speed limit to 65 mph, and even then, vast majority of vehicles obey the limit and are within 70 mph, which is forgiven by cops/radar per unwritten rules)
But here in India, I see that the vast majority overspeeds. If the speed limit is 80 kmph, 80% of the cars go at 110 kmph or higher. We have a race-track mentality where we always want to overtake the vehicle in front. Heck, there'll always be a vehicle in the front!
Trust me, it is a lot safer and less stressful to drive at 80 kmph on Indian roads, and reach your destination safely. If you have cruise control, just cruise at 80 kmph and enjoy. The time saved by overspeeding is not worth it.
This is true regardless of how good a driver you are, certain things are beyond your control (tire bursts, others making mistakes, blind corner or pedestrian making mistake and suddenly darting in, etc). You don't want to live with blood on your hands!
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Originally Posted by rohansachar ...there's also a fine under-speeding.
We have so many Omni's & commercial buses driving at 40~60 that they end up clogging the Freeway. ... |
Yes, unfortunately, we're very far from changing that. 6-laning will help, along with a highway patrol service. I don't know why Gadkari-ji isn't mandating and requiring a well equipped and trained highway patrol service on all highways in India. Even countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have it, I think (certainly Thailand, I've seen with my own eyes).
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Originally Posted by rohansachar ...My PoV is simply that 80 is too low a speed for the Freeway, there should be variable limits for turns & straight junctions & the law should be that if you're on the Freeway, you HAVE to maintain that speed. |
Yes, and the speed limits have to be posted clearly and visible from far.