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-   -   Audible speed alerts to be mandatory by July 2019 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/201117-audible-speed-alerts-mandatory-july-2019-a-7.html)

The newer yellow board vehicles are speed limited to 80 kmph right from the factory itself.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-s...d-80-kmph.html

Mixed feelings. Limiting speed not just helps safety but also improves fuel efficiency and lower total emissions. On this front the 120 km/h limit does makes sense. BUT...

80-90 km/h is probably one of the sweetest speed of modern engines, especially the ones with turbo which require a certain threshold rpm to kick in. Otherwise the emissions/combustion of diesel would not be efficient.

Another confusing element is regarding the alignment of government policies. Three months back the Government announced plans to increase the maximum speed limits on express ways to 120 km/h (Discussion).

As John F Kennedy once famously said " we built our wealth from the roads we have " rather than " we built our roads from the wealth we have".

I have nothing more to say. This should summarise the whole issue of speed beeps.:Frustrati:

If they make it mandatory, I am so gonna mod my "beep" into a Daft Punk melody. Faster I go, faster the beat.

Ok, just kidding. I do think insurance companies will have a run on this though in high speed collisions. Prior warning, driver informed but ignored etc.. all those will get thrown in court to get themselves out of paying the claim.

I was seriously searching for a similar speed alert system for my family car. It is only to keep our drivers in check especially when ferrying our family members, they get to know that the car is speeding and can timely rebuke the driver. Can someone help me with good devices around in our market? I am based in Bangalore/kochi.

There are several GPS tracking devices for vehicles available on Amazon India which can give you all sorts of alerts, apart from their actual purpose of tracking a stolen vehicle. Read the description and choose one that best suits your needs. Most of them are internet based and plugged into the OBD port to read and transmit vehicle parameters and can provide GPS location, speed, etc through an app on a designated mobile phone.

I have mixed feelings about this.

Let's be brutally honest here. We Indian drivers are notorious scofflaws.
We ignore, at a minimum, two visual indicators:

1. Boards put up on the side of the roads, denoting speed limit
2. Speedometer

How would an additional audio indicator make any difference? I wouldn't be surprised if someone figured out a way of bypassing this. e.g. Disconnecting wire to the speaker which sounds out the warning beeps.
I also suspect, the audio could actually turn to be a break in driver concentration, that too at high speeds.

IMO, the correct way of implementing this as a safety feature could be:

• Sound out soft chimes on crossing speed limit.
• Driver has 3-5 seconds to reduce speed (This would help weed out cases of overtaking).
• If speed remains above the limit after this, silently send out latitude, longitude, car VIN, registration number, time stamp etc to a central RTA server. Such information should be made legally admissible proof, which should lead to further action as mandated by the law.

Baap re! So much anger!!

Please do not bash me - I hope you agree that difference of opinion is what TBHP is all about!! However, I think this is in the right direction. It is a matter of opinion whether 80 and 120 are 'good' or 'right' figures. Personally, I am okay to start with. I guess better sense will prevail as time passes.

I am not 'quoting' anyone in particular, but I think I would like to add my 2 cents to some of the points above.

First, let me share some experiences.

For some time I had used the mobile app Vaze. It had a built is GPS based 'real speed' indicator and it was comparing with 'location based speed limit'. I do not remember what it did if I crossed the limit, but I think it beeped once and continued to show the real speed in a different color.

A couple of times, during my visits to Bengaluru, while travelling from airport to the city, the taxis that I used had some software (not sure if it was in the car or in the mobile - but I think it was the car!) so that every time the car crossed 80 kmph, a 'voice' spoke loudly and asked the driver to reduce the speed! My boss and me in the back could hear this and the driver did indeed respond to it and kept the speed in check.

Personally, I find driving the car - any car - at the right speed is definitely stress free. On the highways, I find that I can drive faster but I really enjoy around 80 kmph. Just for reference, in my last trip from Mumbai to Pune and back, I took 4:45 from Mira Road to Pune and 3:30 from Pune to Mira Road. So, other than the instantaneous thrill I would not have saved time and/or money by going faster for just a part of the journey! If this is the case here, I shudder to think of the rural roads. I do not want to do the depressing work of calculating the average speeds. However, you are free to do so - the distance traveled is 170 km +/- 3 km.

Quite a few of my friends have mentioned the other changes that should also come. I agree whole heartedly! However, it is like the conversation between Amitabh Bacchan and Shashi Kapoor in Deewar (I think), it is really difficult to say what should come first and what should come last.

Oh! One more thing - I have trackers on both my cars. Both trackers have an option of setting speed limits. Interestingly, both handle it differently. The Honda Jazz one does practically nothing, but shows it in the history. The Scorpio one send an SMS to my wife, my elder daughter and to me! Believe me, I have got a call from my wife asking me to slow down! So, that works!! lol:

Anyway, let me stop my 'contradictory' rant!

Once more, please forgive me in advance - if anyone is offended! No offense intended and none taken!

Enjoy your drives but drive safely.

Regards,

Girish Mahajan

In a nation of jugaad, I am sure people will find a way to disable the beep.

On a lighter note, I wonder whether this will enhance the value of pre 2019 vehicles in the second hand market. The opportunity of buying a beep free vehicle. lol: :uncontrol

Received as Whatsapp forward. Slightly :OT

I too find 80-90 kmph a stress free speed on the highway. On my Cruze, I always set my Cruise Control to 90kmph whenever I hit highways and I enjoy the relaxed driving feel.
Once I did a 750KM drive to Kerala keeping 90kmph speed and reached the destination within 45 mins difference when compared to the crazy high speed drives I had done on the same stretch. The Avg Speed shown in MID when I completed the trip by restricting the speed to 90 was 66kmph. The same 750KM stretch at high triple digit speeds showed and avg trip speed of 76kmph, but it required more stops and I was literally tired when I reached the destination.

Another thing I have noticed on highways are that with 80-90kmph, I can continue driving on cruise control for quite lot distance because I get a lot of time to plan and overtake the slow moving trucks without even touching the brakes. Above triple digit speeds make the cruise control irrelevant because you need to brake more frequently due to slow moving traffic which cancels the cruise control like every few mins.

Dear Holyghost,

Thanks for the support. I know a lot of people who disagree with me. I do not mind that. However, I think I am enjoying the rides more than they are doing. Just in a lighter vein, I had a Enfield Fury bike - which was 175 cc class 13.5 BHP 0-60 kmph in 4 sec, etc. When I drove through narrow roads and lanes, I was often overtaken by Lunas and other mopeds being driven at their max speed. I would be driving in 3rd gear (out of 5 gears) and I would keep crawling. My friends would laugh. I let them! After all there were no medals or prizes to be won! I found 'happy' driving to be more fun!!

Regards,

Girish Mahajan

what about Motorcycles.
shouldn't it be a rule for all vehicles.

I can correlate to this. During last two years of college I had my dad's Enfield with me. In nearby lanes, and some times in city also, I too used to ride it in 3rd gear 30~35kmph, enjoying the musical notes escaping from exhaust. That Dhak Dhak sound is still close to my heart.

On highways though, I used to speed it upto 70kmph, but the music was lost.

Somehow, I fail to understand the fascination of newer generation for speed, may be I am growing old faster than I thought.

My feelings exactly.
Personally I maintain speeds of about 90-100kmph on the highways occasionally going up to 110kmph (when I'm fresh like after a coffee break etc.).
What I've noticed is that I can more consistently maintain speeds if i'm at 90-100kmph than when I'm trying to maintain 110kmph.
Being at 90-100 gives more time to react to road conditions and requires very few changes to speed unless of-course its an emergency. Going at 110 I find myself reacting to every situation just to be safe. This results in speed constantly varying in the 80-110kmph range. Not to mention I'd have to take more frequent breaks.