[C'estlavie]

Originally Posted by binum

............. Even though we can drive in excess of 120km/hr , my opinion is that 100-110 is the best range on 4-lane roads. Now with lot of safety features added like ABS, Airbag and EBD these speeds are safe. Of course as other members pointed out , condition of roads , traffic and visibility plays an important role...................

I hope you don't mind what I say, it is said with the best intention. Allow me to share with you some words my father told me almost 30 years ago when he taught me how to drive- he told me that I must learn to drive not just for myself or people in my car, but also for other drivers and people and animals on our Indian roads. In short, I was part of an ecosystem with responsibility towards others.

What does this mean? That ABS, Airbags and EBD mean nothing if they are a reason people feel they can drive faster in India.

There is a fundamental issue here- these are meant not to make you drive faster, they are mean to save lives. In fact they are meant to save two sets of lives, yours and in the case of ABS and EBD the lives of people and animals on the road. If despite all these technological advances people are still driving at 100+ kmph on Indian roads and, while they themselves may survive an accident unscathed, even if they harm (far less kill) a single person or animal on the road, it means they have failed. When I hear of incidents where people say they were driving at 110-120+ and a dog jumped out, or a person jumped on the road, well my question would be, what were you doing driving at 110-120+ in the first place?

The way I see it, there may be a few (very few!) brilliant roads in India where in theory where you can drive fast- the Delhi Agra highway is as good as any US highway I have driven on (and I have driven extensively).

But, unless lives are at stake, there is no good reason to go above 100 kmph in our country. None whatsoever.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by C'estlavie

The way I see it, there may be a few (very few!) brilliant roads in India where in theory where you can drive fast- the Delhi Agra highway is as good as any US highway I have driven on (and I have driven extensively).

I do the YE about three times every year (up and down). Have you noticed the breaks in the highway fencing, mostly by locals, and also the ominous Blue Bull (Nilgai) warnings. Also, many people think that the LH lane is only for lorries and buses. Only the other day they just would not listen. I almost lost my temper.

[C'estlavie]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

......... Have you noticed the breaks in the highway fencing, mostly by locals.. ..

That's a reason I believe we desperately need to have our governments demarcating, fencing off and protecting land within 50 meters of at least our newer highways. When you accept construction next to highways it's asking for trouble.

The Meerut bypass used to be a proper bypass. Now, with shops and residences right next to the road, it's become a piece of %^&* stretch no different from pieces of %^&* rural urban developments in North India, specifically UP.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Also, many people think that the LH lane is only for lorries and buses.

More the number of lanes you provide, it will create a sort of criss cross drive/ride as Lorries will occupy each of the lanes provided to them and it is left to others to squeeze their way out. Hopefully the cars dont bang into each other

[locusjag]

History can always provide a superb perspective.

"The cost of rising fuel prices caused many states in the USA to start adopting speed limit laws to save money and resources in the early 1970s. President Richard Nixon agreed to a national speed limit of 55 mph for all states in 1974. After this law went into effect, America saw its traffic fatality rate drop from 4.28 per million miles traveled in 1972 to 2.73 in 1983."
Source: http://blog.americansafetycouncil.co...ts-in-america/

The faster you go, the higher the chance of a mishap. While you can control your driving, you can't foresee any unknowns.

Speaking of unknowns, here are a couple of recent examples from the US, where drivers were killed despite driving well within speed limits and for no fault of theirs:
1) A truck crashed and burned when out of nowhere the driver spotted a huge mattress on the interstate - https://patch.com/new-jersey/longbra...dying-nj-crash
2) An old man was killed when a 50 lb dumbbell barrelled out of nowhere, went through the windshield and hit his head. He was driving on the NJ turnpike - http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.2956341

Could the truck driver have avoided the mattress if he was slower? Yes. But legally, he was supposed to drive above 40 mph on that highway....so what happened, happened.

Speed kills, because you can't react fast enough when the unknowns strike.

[sgiitk]

@locusjag; After the oil crisis speed limits in the UK were lowered. The accident rate went down, but there was an increase in nose to tail incidents. Then the German data came out. They had not tampered with the speed limits. There was an even higher drop in accidents. Turned out that the cause was reduction in traffic.

[locusjag]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

@locusjag; After the oil crisis speed limits in the UK were lowered. The accident rate went down, but there was an increase in nose to tail incidents. Then the German data came out. They had not tampered with the speed limits. There was an even higher drop in accidents. Turned out that the cause was reduction in traffic.

Aha! Maybe it was a classic case of mixing correlation with causation...lesser miles driven could well have been the major contributing cause, and lower speeds could have been a lesser cause. But risk avoidance (not driving at all) is often not feasible, whereas risk management (avoiding speeding) is prudent and feasible.

But I was really trying to make a case for not speeding. On the national highways cutting through Tamil Nadu, I have driven a lot and seen how unsafe it is to go above 80 Kmph purely due to the unknowns, while the roads are good to go faster on paper. Whereas, I saw a lot of BHPians on this thread propounding speeds of 110-130 Kmph on the good roads of TN. Not safe at all IMO.

Why am I pontificating here? It could be me or someone I know at the other end some day.

[Mystic]

I think this thread is so much relevant now as India has come a long way in the last few years with world class roads and matching high performance engines for automobiles. India is no more a country with roads catering to bullock carts and Ferraris on the same tarmac.

The need of the hour is understand the limitations of road, machine and man. I see a lot you tube videos with people going at 200 kmph as if our new highways are like autobahns in Germany leading to avoidable deaths especially in areas where the new age roads are not designed / constructed properly for whatever reasons.

The following news I saw made me write the above post:

https://www.deccanherald.com/india/o...-lives-2823620

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by anku94

Hi folks!

I'm a relatively new driver (just hit 20 years), and have a couple of inter-city travels under my belt.

No one can advice you what is the fastest you can drive on the highway but I can definitely tell you that maintaining 100+ kmph on most Indian highways is next to impossible and, as many have commented, outright illegal (
there might be few stretches where it is indeed possible).

So instead of worrying about top speed, invest your time in mastering defensive driving and try to enjoy the drive. A video that I particularly liked is

https://youtu.be/40vZ5VyiOgs?si=AmDciryAheYqtBfg

(Also do watch the other videos in that series)

As a final point realise that your time of travel depends on your average speed (rather than peak speed which is what most people notice) where as your risk is dependent on peak speed. Driving at peak 80 vs driving at peak 100 is not going to give you a difference of 20 kmph on average. The figures might be close to about 5 kmph at max. So why take the risk ?