[ananthkamath]

Well pretty much the same situation prevails in and around Mangalore...specially, NH17 from Mangalore to Kundapur...here you will find the awesome sight of 3 buses overtaking each other side by side on a road barely enough to park 3 buses...

An old joke that does the rounds here is that if you are an atheist, you should get onto one of these buses and sit on the bench seat alongside the driver..just one trip is enough to make a believer out of you....

Volvos are routinely pushed to the limits here and the local buses try to catch up with these sometimes. Who said India doesnt have a proper racetrack other than in Sriperumbudur and Coimbatore?

[lamborghini]

I am for the speed governer.
I think 50 kmph for inter city is decent enough and maybe a couple of special Bus lanes in the Metros along with stricter laws will only help.
I think i found the perfect solution to India's corruption problems.
Now if only somebody could do something about cabs.

[rahul_intlad]

Reviving old thread because heard this incident was in the news again[recent strikes in kerala].

Kerala guys what's the latest updates.

[rks]

I am against speed governors. I certainly wouldn't want to travel long distances in a bus limited to 60 kmph (sheer torture, in my opinion) -- as for 40 kmph, the less said the better.

Limiting speeds and increasing travel time is not desirable. I remember a comment by a foreigner who took the Bangalore-Mysore trip by road and said that having to spend 3.5 hours for doing 140 kms (this was several years ago) at an average of 40 kmph is a terrible waste of time and bad for business. This is a fact of life in India -- average speeds are already much less than 50 kmph on many "highways" even without speed governors/speed limits. There are already many frustrating delays due to traffic jams, bad roads, etc. One should not make matters worse for an entire state just because of a few rash drivers. Instead focus on better training for drivers, better enforcement of traffic rules, be strict with issuing/suspending licenses, improve roads, etc. In other words, move in the forward direction, like other advanced nations.

[cheap_deal]

All i can say is AMEN to the speed limiters, i know how the bus drivers in kerala drive. id rather reach a destination 6hrs late than 3hrs early after running over a bunch of people.

Can someone shed some light one how these speed limiters work?

i thought it just limited top speed.
how does it affect the acceleration?
did they just put a nail or block of wood under the gas pedal???

[supremeBaleno]

Its a welcome move. Though 40kmph is too low. 60kmph should be more like it.

[esteem_lover]

this can help in a small way, thats all, because i dont think it is the speed in which they drive, more to do with the way it is driven, mindless of the other road users & parking in the middle of the road etc.

[rahul_intlad]

60kmph maybe fine on winding roads but its too slow for the expressways[mumbai-pune etc],the 4 laned highways...[It would be so cruel on a 250odd bhp beast[volvo] crawling between 40-60 kmph on these roads].

Highways like these are being built ,so that highway travel becomes faster,why take a step backwards.Proper training of the drivers is the need of the hour.

If speed is the reason causing accidents then all vehicles should have speed governors including cars[limited to 80kmph].

[1100D]

I think Speed governors will infact be detrimental to safety as drivers would be reluctant to kill momentum to maintain the sickly top speed. What is needed is basic driver training and pshychological counselling of each driver entrusted with lives of the general public. And make it mandatory for each driver to attend these sessions after a fixed interval of time.

[Mpower]

Speed limiter is a short term solution that will offer a band-aid solution but also cause a lot of side effects. 50 kph for city and 80 for hwy seems reasonable and maybe lower for hilly regions like Kerala.

Like 1100D mentioned, the correct solution is to hire good drivers who are disiplined and use their judgement like you and me when it comes to safety.

Some one needs to do a pshychological study on the minds of these drivers and find out why they behave like that and what can be done to change it. Maybe they are overworked, maybe the engines vibrate too much and drive them nuts, maybe they are simply too young and immature for the job......

[rahul_intlad]

Offtopic:

Could someone explain how speed governors generally function.

[nikkibike]

Originally Posted by 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.

EVERYTHING SAID!! Do anybody need any more explanations on whether the subject item is required in Kerala or not ?!!

[mail4ajo]

I read this thread in depth. What I strongly feel is the neccessity to limit rash driving rather than high speed driving. Accidents can be caused out of mindless driving too. I have heard about several cases where fatal accidents happen even when the speed was low. Careless overtaking, wrong turns, unneccessary braking etc can all cause accidents.

Ever spoken to a bus or lorry driver? The guy is under heavy stress on duty. My uncle owned and operated 3 lorries and a local bus. He himself used to drive them when the drivers were absent. I have travelled with him during my school holidays with a 5-6 ton payload of rubber wood, sand, stone, cement etc. Believe me..its really not easy.

The overspeeding of buses is because there are too many route permits given to buses. The time difference in some cases is a mere 6-7 minutes. Isn't that crazy?? Why have so many buses running in the first place?? Politicians and RTO authorise routes after heavy palm greasing. Its no undercover stuff..We have done it too..If there is sufficient spacing between bus timings, the speeding wouldn't be neccessary.

The Kerala roads are notorious for potholes, blind curves, thick edges and bad tar quality. Achu Mama (Kerala CM) should devote his time to rectify these. Hence the need of the hour is not just to limit speeds, but also to limit permits to buses and better the roads.

[rks]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

60kmph maybe fine on winding roads but its too slow for the expressways[mumbai-pune etc],the 4 laned highways...[It would be so cruel on a 250odd bhp beast[volvo] crawling between 40-60 kmph on these roads].

The 174 km distance that I do every week on the Pune-Mumbai route takes me anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hours in the evening, with moderate-to-heavy traffic on the roads. This despite the fact that I cover the 94-km Expressway in 50-55 mins, driving at speeds of 120-150 kmph. If a bus is limited to 60 kmph, it will probably average at most 45 kmph on the Expressway (taking into account the ghat section and the toll gates). So it would take more than 2 hours to pass the Expressway. The entire trip would then take something like 4.5-5 hours on the bus (this is just running time -- throw in another 30 mins or so for the halt in Lonawala). Consider the plight of a businessman, for example, who would like to start early, go to Mumbai to complete some work and return in the night. Most sane people with these requirements would abandon the bus and go for Express trains, which do the Pune-Dadar route in 3 hours or less. In Kerala, the equivalent might be the Cochin-Coimbatore route.

[sidharth_j]

Originally Posted by mail4ajo

The Kerala roads are notorious for potholes, blind curves, thick edges and bad tar quality. Achu Mama (Kerala CM) should devote his time to rectify these. Hence the need of the hour is not just to limit speeds, but also to limit permits to buses and better the roads.

I can't agree more. You have hit the nail on the head!

Its these bad roads...no, hopeless roads that make keralites such crazy drivers! they simply test your patience what with the innumerable potholes we need to avoid..

Driving here is becoming more of a nightmare day by day, and on top of this, if we have slow coach buses..then...