[NiInJa]

I feel India is not ready for high speeds just yet, most drivers are not yet educated enough nor is the infrastructure ready.

- No dedicated service lanes on highways
- If service lanes are present, people use it for overtaking slow moving vehicles
- No lane discipline on bigger roads
- Vehicles parked on the leftmost lanes
- Improper rear lighting specially for trucks
- Potholed roads
- Not enough warning signs on roads

If we increase the speed limits further without addressing the above pointers, I think we are not going to see any improvement in road safety.
I am worried about two wheeler commuters in city as four-wheelers can now drive faster legally.

[NaviRai12]

I feel that we need a revision of rule on speed limit as nowadays I rarely see people driving at 80 kmph even in Mysore Bangalore road which intersects a lot of villages and towns. Also most cars can very well do speeds in excess of 80 kmph.

My only concern is that people should not get into a mindset of following the speed limit in every road and traffic condition all the time. Like now since it is 80 kmph, people tend to maintain 80 kmph all through. As long as it is upper limit, it should not be a concern. People can very well travel in whatever speeds they are comfortable with with max bring 100 or 120 kmph as per the rule.

[ksgehlot]

Finally someone came into their senses. At Least the speed limit revision on the Expressway was needed. Whats the point in making 6 or 8 lane roads if you still reach your destination at the same time as a 2 lane road.

Another thing the government should do is make Fences in such a way that no one could enter.

[locusjag]

I don't see BHPians considering the logistics angle at all. In the HT article that Smartcat had cited, here's what a bigwig from SIAM says -

Vishnu Mathur, director general, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, welcomed the move. “Increasing the speed limit will go a long way in improving logistic efficiency in the country. The travel time will reduce, fuel efficiency of vehicles will increase and fuel consumption will go down,” he said.

Besides, on an average a goods-laden truck in India used to cover, what - was it 180 km a day? Compared to 800 Km a day elsewhere?

GST was a solid step in eliminating truck pile-ups at state borders. Fastag is another solid idea (although its implementation currently may be poor in many places) to cut wait-times at toll booths. Increasing the allowed speeds is another boon. Even though passenger cars and commercial long-distance buses already go way higher than the existing legal speed limits on national highways and expressways, I believe the higher legal limits could be to pre-empt some other road-safety initiative by the NHAI - such as speed-trap cameras or something that is yet to come our way. Mr.Gadkari's mind must be churning out something on paper as we speak.

Economics trumps over other things at this point.

[arunphilip]

I'm happy with this revision. I've usually pegged 120 km/h as the upper limit for general safe driving in India (emphasis on upper limit, when conditions and visibility are right), so its very nice to see this revision.

Having said that, it would be very illustrative if the road ministry can run an ad campaign that shows the crash damage to vehicles travelling at 60, 90 and 120 km/h to illustrate the damage caused at each of those speeds.

This is because while raising the limit is a good decision (IMHO) we also need to educate people that the safety kit which is becoming increasingly accessible is nowhere near a guarantee of safety in an accident, as speeds increase. The best safety kit is the stuff between our ears.

Far too many times I hear anecdotes of people grumbling that they crashed "despite having ABS", or a person passed away "despite the car having airbags".

Originally Posted by theredliner

Two wheelers are much safer if they travel at similar speeds as or a little higher than the other vehicles on the road.

Fully agree with your sentiment that two-wheelers are safer when they can stay "ahead" of traffic in terms of speed, and when they can accelerate out of danger.

I think they opted for a lower speed because of the perception that a higher limit would encourage bad driving.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by vb-san

But 100 km/hr on expressways, 90 km/hr on national highways for heavy vehicles quite high IMO.

Originally Posted by locusjag

Besides, on an average a goods-laden truck in India used to cover, what - was it 180 km a day? Compared to 800 Km a day elsewhere?

It was not due to the low speed limits that truckers used to go slow. They go slow to get the best FE. Most of them get peanuts as salary and conserve fuel to pocket the rest of the fuel money.

Originally Posted by Samir Taheer

We do not have enough driver training/education to allow these speeds!

1) Exhaustion -
2) Reliability -

How many heavy vehicles can actually stop in time for an emergency from the existing limits?

Originally Posted by ksameer1234

Surprising to see everyone giving a thumbs down to this move.

Originally Posted by NiInJa

I am worried about two wheeler commuters in city as four-wheelers can now drive faster legally.

There will be bad drivers even if you have a speed limit of 200 km/h. It's a good move for people like us, who prefer to stick to the rules. People will always want to push their small cars as well as the bigger cars to their limits on public roads.

Originally Posted by Amey Kulkarni

More than 20% increase in speed limits!

I really doubt if risk analysis has been done in this case as there are more cons than pros here.

Studies have shown that increasing the speed limit has no or even a positive influence on number of fatalities. The govt. must have thought about this a little bit. The German autobahns have the lowest fatality / km stats, even better than the roads in rural Germany (with lower speed limits). Similar studies in US when the speed limit was increased from 55 to 65 mph show that there wasn't increase in the rate of fatal accidents, rather they got reduced in some places.

I think this move is good for the following reasons:
1. Less no. of man power will need to be kept aside for speeding vehicles.
2. When all are speeding, being the only one sticking to 80 km/h is dangerous.
3. The 120km/h is on expressways which are mostly access controlled.
4. Could lead to better infrastructure - the road faults which were considered acceptable at 80 km/h could no longer be brushed aside for 120 km/h speed. The contractors might be forced to repair roads more frequently and using better quality materials.

Fun fact - Thickness of autobahn is 2X that of average highways of the world.

[Hayek]

This is a great move and should be accompanied by road worthiness requirements that impose a minimum speed which should be at least 2/3rd of the speed limit. Trucks driving at 30 KMPh are what make our highways and expressways dangerous - not cars going at 100 or 120. Hope they also increase speed limits on City links like the Worli Bandra Sea link or Eastern Freeway.

[Rahul Rao]

Increase in speed limit is a good move, but it cannot be a blanket limit. Even if the limit on express ways is made 120 and that on 4 lane divided roads is made 100, there will be sections where a lower speed limit may be necessary, and should be clearly mentioned and enforced.
Secondly in case of cities, every city is different, and every road in the city is different too, should it not be upto the city traffic police to set the limit for each area, 60 or 70 should be the upper limit that they are allowed to set the limit to.
Lastly the light weight tin cans without airbags which our cities have in plenty, many of the users venture out onto the highways on weekends and drive dangerously, many of those are running on OE tyres even in their 6th year of use. Commercial vehicles have a annual fitness and passing after the first two years, in yesteryears it was a farce, but for the last year and half it is quiet stringent and all the commercial vehicles will have gone through it.
When speed limits go up, the conditions of vehicles has too ass well. I hope a private vehicles also have this inspection periodically, say fourth and eight year and then every two years from then onwards.
Lastly we have the mix of vehicles. Some national highways have local commuters who use 100 cc and 150 cc bikes without front disk brakes. One cannot stop the locals, so speed limits above 80 should exist only in parts of the highway where bi lanes exist, and these smaller two wheelers are not allowed on main carrage width andrestricted to bi lanes. Bigger bikes say above 200cc which have disk brakes can be allowed on the main carrage way of the highway.

Rahul

[silverado]

Who is monitoring speed limits anyways? Ask regular Mumbai pune expressway travelers, you don't see any one with speed gun these days.

Anyways, Mumbai-Pune eway is one which does deserve a 120Km/hr speed limit in some sections at least.
They should also set a lower speed limit for such highways, as there are some folks who drive at lower speeds on right lane as well.( I am taking about passenger cars ).

To summarize, speed limits are effective only if they are monitored which is completely lacking on this highway.

[wildsdi5530]

It's also very important to have minimum speed limits. A lot of drivers and riders in Bangalore at least believe that if they drive slowly, then talking on a mobile phone becomes legal. Also you have buses and trucks driving in the middle of the bridge at lowest possible speed and refusing to move left or right to allow other vehicles to pass. And somehow parking on a narrow bridge seems to be a favorite past time of cabs. Autos and cabs cruising around maintain a speed of 20 kmph even on empty roads but will not allow anyone to pass and pick up a fare ahead. Two wheelers love to window shop while riding, unfortunately they want to do both sides and thus weave about at 10 kmph. I think when speed limits are designed there should be a range say 20-40 kmph in city limits. 40-70 on highways within city limits. 80 - 120 on highways. Of course designated stopping bays should be provided.

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

It was not due to the low speed limits that truckers used to go slow. They go slow to get the best FE. Most of them get peanuts as salary and conserve fuel to pocket the rest of the fuel money.

Crawling trucks is one thing, and along with that not-so-well-maintained buses on higher speed limits can create havoc on highways.

[Turbohead]

Although it sounds nice, I still don't understand why there should be varying speed limits. Why can't they just fix speed limits for lanes instead of vehicles, say 80kmph for the left lane and 100kmph for the right lane? Won't this improve traffic flow and safety?

[haria]

Originally Posted by CrAzY dRiVeR

On another new thread about speed governers on bikes-

Shows how great a co-ordination/collaboration is there between various departments/agencies of the govt! One agency wants speed governors, another wants to increase the speed limit! Both done in a slip-shod manner without really working out the nitty-grittes! and creating more confusion among the user/common citizens

Doesn't mean I'll do 120 kmph everywhere because our roads dont allow it - but when it does

Very valid point - I really hope people realize this important distinction - that speed limit is just that - it is the max. limit! and not the preferred/safe speed to be followed at all times! Many times I have seen people sticking to near the upper band of the speed limit, because they unconsciously feel that speed limit indicates the SAFE value at which they should be be driving!

[smooth indian]

How about broader shoulders on highways, better designed junctions between highways/roads with proper roundabouts and distinct turning lanes, more consistent crash barriers, continuous service roads for dual carriage highways, large font highway signage and more importantly better education of the public regarding highways and traffic.

[prakhar1998]

IMHO this is a great decision. The fact of the matter is, laws are only followed if they are rational. Having an 80 km/h speed limit is so inefficient that nobody follows it. This not only makes it okay for people to break rules (and have that mindset that rules are stupid, so why follow them), but also allows for officials to take undue advantage when they want to by catching someone randomly for doing this, when in fact everybody else is doing it too.

If you have a speed limit like 100 km/h on national highways and 120 km/h on expressways, then people will naturally follow them as they are rational, and even officials will only be allowed to fine the people who drive at truly insane speeds.

Our roads are getting better, and believe it or not, speed limits can only do so much when it comes to making roads safer if they are not enforced properly. Proper enforcement not only revolves around catching people who are in the wrong, but catching people who don't follow rules that are rational (for instance, in this case it would be people who go faster than even 120 km/h on a public expressway).

Its better to have rules that are followed, but aren't overly conservative than rules that are super conservative and nobody follows.