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Old 2nd August 2014, 20:54   #1
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Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

ET reports that the Indian government has decided to revise the maximum speed limits of each category of vehicles travelling on the Indian roads today.

Cars will be allowed to cruise at 100 kmph maximum, while for goods vehicles and motorcycles, the maximum speed limit will be 80 kmph. Also, a new category of vehicles called Quadricycles has been introduced with a maximum speed limit set at 70 kmph.


Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done-hyundaigrandi1026.jpg


Quote:
The revision in speed limits after over two decades is being done considering improved network of highways across the country, say experts.

The need to rationalize the speed limit was felt way back in 2006-07 and a committee was set up to revise the norms. "We had recommended that there cannot be multiple speed limits on the same lane of a highway for different categories of vehicle. There has to be compatibility. While the Central government can fix maximum speed limit, it's the responsibility of local agencies and NHAI to ensure that there is no such conflicting speed on the same carriageway," said Rohit Baluja, a road safety expert and a member of the panel.

He added that motorcycles were banned on expressways because of the speed limit of 50 kmph. Baluja said there was also a recommendation that there should be separate speed limit for vehicles plying in urban areas.

Sources said while earlier the speed limit was based on vehicle type, this time the new norm is based on the seating capacity of all such vehicles. For example, a passenger vehicle that can accommodate nine passengers besides the driver will be allowed to ply at 80 kmph. But a passenger vehicle with less than eight seating capacity can speed up to 100 kmph after the fresh notification is out.
SOURCE - Economic Times

PICTURE COURTESY - Team-BHP's Official Hyundai Grand i10 Review

Last edited by RavenAvi : 2nd August 2014 at 20:58.
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Old 2nd August 2014, 21:34   #2
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

That's a welcome move.
We do have speed limits even now, but how many are following it? Even inside city limits I could see a lot of vehicles doing at 3 digit speeds.

I wish Govt should take necessary actions in controlling the speed. Best way is to install speed cams as much as possible and charge the rule breakers during insurance / FC renewal. I'm not sure how this will help, either on the positive side or make a new way for corruption.
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Old 2nd August 2014, 22:10   #3
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Well, there are many more rules which if followed, would help each one of us.

Major cause of accident is driver error. Govt is doing nothing to make licensing laws stringent. I can still procure one via a tout.

Same is applicable for other road safety rules. In fact, the ones who are supposed to enforce the rule, do they wear seat belts/helmets?

But, we are not back to square one. This will help Govt & police to catch offenders & wield speed guns for their own selfish interest and increase burden on us tax payers.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 00:19   #4
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Seriously...

Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done-imageuploadedbyteambhp1407005335.489119.jpg

You can't even implement a standardised number plate system across the country.
You can't even implement a no-helmet-instant-fine rule across the country.
You implement bull crap restrictions like "no sun protection films" citing safety for women as the reason, and even then women are terrorised and harassed day in day out.

Corruption is rampant, law enforcement is a joke, arm twisting is second nature, bribe giving-taking is a part of life, people are barely able to make a life out of their incomes after drowning in taxes and rising costs due to inflation, women and children are not safe even inside their homes & schools, and all this govt thinks of implementing is some crazy a$$ speed limit on vehicles??

Even God won't be able to help us all. There's our India Shining, right there gentlemen. Applaud away...Never in a million years will our corrupt and pathetic govt be able to implement speed limits across roads, let alone personal vehicles. Anyone who even thinks otherwise is smoking some real exotic stuff.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 01:00   #5
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

We long ago became a country which loves to draft and introduce new rules and hates to implement them. What is the point of this futile exercise?
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Old 3rd August 2014, 01:13   #6
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Incredible. If 50/60/70 kmph speed limits across the country encourage so much rash driving and is a struggle to implement what will happen with a 100kmph limit.

If this is indeed the intention it seems to me nothing short of legitimising rash driving in cities (with due respect to the small minority who drive safely at speeds in excess of 80 kmph). The least the committee could have done was to specify that these will not be applicable to cities / suburban areas.

Fortunately implementation of this proposal city roads (and state highways) will, in all likelihood, depend on the state governments so I doubt any changes happening soon.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 06:01   #7
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumar R View Post
Incredible. If 50/60/70 kmph speed limits across the country encourage so much rash driving and is a struggle to implement what will happen with a 100kmph limit.
100kph is not very uncommon on the NHs, esp GQ. We will need higher for the Expressways, esp Yamuna. 100 feels like pedestrian ( set my cruise control to 100 as per my GPS). 130 as in the bulk of Europe may be fine, or at least 120 (in tune with 70mph in the UK).

The other day I met a chap who was cribbing about being ticketed for doing 150 on the YE. Such chaps are there, and legislation will NOT educate them. What is more worrisome is the habit of hogging the rh lane, and weaving. Even on the YE I see more traffic in the middle lane that in the LH lane!
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Old 3rd August 2014, 08:45   #8
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

I'm a little confused. ORR in Hyderabad already has speed limit of 120. If the govt. mandated speed limit for a category is less than the speed limit specified on a road, which speed limit should the drivers comply?

Quote:
He added that motorcycles were banned on expressways because of the speed limit of 50 kmph.
An undesirable aftermath of this would be if motor-cycles are allowed on expressways. They are still treating all motor-cycles as the same and increasing the speed limit to 80. A 100cc bike is not going to be stable at 80km/h and if such bikes start using the expressways, it is going to be a nightmare and deathtrap for everyone - to them and to fellow road users who might end up losing control trying to avoid them. If they are going to allow 2-wheelers on expressways, I hope they restrict it to only bikes with more than 200cc or so.

It is good that they are reducing the speed limit of people mover vehicles, which are generally prone to more body roll and are not designed to be driven at same speeds as a sedan of the same price. One more aspect that they should consider is the power output and the braking/safety features available in the cars. Cars without ABS and below a certain power output should not be given the same speed as a luxury hatchbacks and sedans that are designed to handle such speeds. They should introduce categorization like sub-compacts, compacts, intermediates, full size etc. under the broad LMV category and put speed limits based on each category.

Since they are taxing the high end cars under a different tax bracket, they can also have different categories for the speed limits too. If you are escaping the duties and buying a 'small' car, you should be driving it as a small car, not as a race car. Indirect benefit - manufacturers would think twice before trying to design everything under 4m.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 09:21   #9
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Quote:
Originally Posted by sgiitk View Post
.

The other day I met a chap who was cribbing about being ticketed for doing 150 on the YE.
Slightly off topic but have they started issuing speed tickets finally on the YE? I had been told they only warn you at the toll booths to slow down and nothing else.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 09:22   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kumar R View Post
Incredible. If 50/60/70 kmph speed limits across the country encourage so much rash driving and is a struggle to implement what will happen with a 100kmph limit.

If this is indeed the intention it seems to me nothing short of legitimising rash driving in cities (with due respect to the small minority who drive safely at speeds in excess of 80 kmph). The least the committee could have done was to specify that these will not be applicable to cities / suburban areas.

Fortunately implementation of this proposal city roads (and state highways) will, in all likelihood, depend on the state governments so I doubt any changes happening soon.
There was a US study which you can Google that concluded that it was the over concious people that drive slow that are root cause of more accidents then people driving 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. Rash driving and driving at speed suitable for the road are 2 different things in my opinion.
Gosh I miss taking my car daily on NH8 to office. Bangalore traffic is unbelievable.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 10:32   #11
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

This seems to be applicable for highways. Apart from some signboards being updated over time, not sure if this update has any other tangible impact.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 11:35   #12
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

For what i make out of so many unnecessary accidents that happen on our roads, there are two things that should be extensively implemented apart from increasing speed limits to more practical figures:

1. Stricter lane traffic manners . People not sticking to their lanes give others very unpleasant surprises causing accidents and is the reason for so much road rage.

2. Slow moving vehicles plying in the lanes meant for faster vehicles as they cause traffic disruption . Also trucks block the visibility to a great extent. They sometimes break down in the right lane causing mile long jams.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 13:30   #13
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Forgot to mention the another important item - speed limit should be fixed based on the width of the road, number of lanes etc. We shouldn't fix the same speed limit for 4-lane one-way roads like the Hyderabad-Bangalore stretch of NH-7 and the 2-lane two-way NH17 in Kerala just because both of them are termed "national highways".
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Old 3rd August 2014, 13:33   #14
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

Quote:
Originally Posted by aseem View Post
There was a US study which you can Google that concluded that it was the over concious people that drive slow that are root cause of more accidents then people driving 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit. Rash driving and driving at speed suitable for the road are 2 different things in my opinion.
Well, road infrastructure, driving sense amongst motorists as well as law enforcement differ vastly between the USA and India so I gravely doubt application of that conclusion to India. As a matter of fact barring incidents due to jaywalking, nearly every single accident, dent or collision I have witnessed or read about (such as on the Accidents in India - pics thread) is on account of rash driving. Everybody in India wants to be in a hurry and is willing to take all kinds of dangerous risks to reach the next signal 2 seconds earlier. Barring rear-end denting due to overtaking, I cant think of any accidents caused by slow-moving vehicles here in India.

A speed limit has a direct correlation to propensity to drive rashly. While there are obviously some maniacs who don't care about any limit many others will feel emboldened by an almost 100% increase in legal limits to test their speeding skills - some perhaps with deadly results.

Quote:
Originally Posted by pankaj_t View Post
2. Slow moving vehicles plying in the lanes meant for faster vehicles as they cause traffic disruption . Also trucks block the visibility to a great extent. They sometimes break down in the right lane causing mile long jams.
I hear this a lot. But traffic disruption is no excuse for speeding or rash driving. Yes it's annoying when someone won't move over but one has to respect the rule of law and not take matters into their own hands. Executing a risky maneuver to bypass that traffic disruptor is not a solution; it is not an option. What's the worst that can happen if a slow guys sits on the right lane -- you'll be delayed by 30 mins, maybe 1 hr, maybe 3 hrs. What's the worst when someone speeds? Death, injury, hurt, damage, loss. Two wrongs cannot make a right.

Until it can be determined that an overwhelming majority of drivers in this country respect and care about driving rules (both laws and customs) and until it can be demonstrated that the existing laws are capable of being enforced effectively, raising speed limits will only make our roads bigger death traps.
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Old 3rd August 2014, 13:48   #15
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re: Govt all set to revise speed limits for all vehicles. EDIT: Done

We welcome rules, but what about implementation?
Speed limits: Everybody in a highway goes as fast as they can manage. It is important to implement speed cameras in all highways. If the govt does it in major highways, people will be disciplined.
Lane Discipline: The biggest in Indian roads today. No truck driver follows lane discipline. They want to drive on the right lane due to many three-wheelers(and tata ace) which want to pick up people on the left lane. If trucks used the left lane, car traffic can flow through the right lane easily.

I beliveve that: Maintaining a high avg speed is more important than a high top speed.
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