[windiesel]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

So how will / does this work in India. Once a camera has caught a car speeding, what happens next? Does the owner get a speeding ticket send to his/her home? What if the owner wasn’t driving, but somebody else?

How do we go from speed camera to a paid speeding fine?

Here in the Netherlands this is extremely well covered. The law is such that the owner of the vehicle is always responsible. So if I let somebody drive my car, the speeding ticket is send automatically to my home address and I will need to pay!

It is one of the few cases where you are always guilty, no matter what.

Jeroen

Here also the logic is the same, the owner is responsible.

[J4J]

I always wondered, how are these tested?
Do they test it in some kind of a facility that can mimic real life conditions or are these tested directly on us?

There are so many variables here in our country. An animal/cycle/pedestrian can come right in front of you while crossing a red light and the light may turn red in between.
During rains, I see many red lights not functioning. Does the camera know that?
Recently, I saw a news where a car was stolen and owner was getting challaned. Why are these systems not put into proper use to provide little help to the citizens when needed. The stolen car could have been retrieved if the system was planned in such a way.

[moralfibre]

Good start but expect an idiotic implementation, no less.

This is a friend who got picked for doing 81km/h in a 80km/h zone! I believe even the US permits 10-15% uptick on the prevailing speed limits.



The way this will work is an automated money making machine. There is a stonewalled redressal mechanism.

I think the loss of 20k lives may not have been due to speeding. Here's the order of importance of reasons why road fatalities are high:

1) Road design and quality:

Our highways are simply not designed for public safety, they are designed based on availability of land for acquisition and thereafter pasted with a black top or concrete to let people drive on it. Absolutely zero thought has been invested in choosing the alignment, placement and quality of roads. I can write a photo essay on this but will need 200 different pictures to upload and it's cumbersome.

Which developed nation has road junctions on a dual lane carriageway for cross traffic? Pune - Bangalore stretch has 100s of those.

Which developed nation has speed breakers on the highway?
We have them with camouflage enough to mask them.

Potholes?
Less said the better. The current state of a 1 year old highway around Pune can compete with craters on the moon.


2) Service roads in Maharashtra:

Everyone knows what a blissful world the KA section of the Pune - Bangalore highway turns into.

Why?

Because they have service roads for villagers. Their then govt thought it was prudent to have a longer use thought. Heck, even villages are cleanly bypassed and there is barely any villager trying to cross the highway at 20km/h with a family of 5 on his Splendour.

3) Free parking on the highways:

MH has a ton of spots between Pune and Kolhapur that have double parked buses to pickup passengers. These passengers also cross the highway on foot. A car that could be well under the speed limit could hit these folks.

4) Tractors:

Tractors with double and triple stacked sugarcane trolleys often trudge the highways in MH at anywhere between 5-30km/h. These trolleys snap and become projectiles toward traffic and cause severe crashes.

I could go on and on but in essence, I disagree that all loss of lives in those 20k incidents are due to speeding and speed cameras will help curb deaths.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

This is a friend who got picked for doing 81km/h in a 80km/h zone! I believe even the US permits 10-15% uptick on the prevailing speed limits.
.

In many countries that deploys speed cameras, by law there is a certain bandwidth. Usually it is expressed in a measured speed and a corrected measured speed. The corrected speed can be an adjustment based on percentage or an absolute number.

The purpose is to allow for any measuring/calibration errors in the speedcamera system.

Not sure if the speed of the vehicle is the actual measured, or the corrected speed? Sometimes these things show the corrected speed as vehicle speed.

But even so, All speedometers on any vehicle are calibrated so they err on the high side. So even if the actual speed was 81 km/h it would have shown as 85 km/h on the speedometer or thereabouts to the driver.

Jeroen

[mmxylorider]

While I am all for electronic monitoring, what is the recourse to challenge an e-challan and in an easy fashion. Maybe there was a medical emergency that required higher speed to reach on time in safe manner.
Also curious about the enforcement aspect. What happens if the challan is not paid in time. I would say link traffic incident info to every government system. Need a passport/loan/SIM/new vehicle, clear your traffic dues kind of thing. That will be the best deterrent against traffic violations.

[jagzrk]

No wonder Maruti's will sell more. Mileage is the king and the lack of performance hugely cost effective. There was a cheeky comment by Jeremy Clarkson on GT about how an economy with no road speed limits can grow. The classic argument would be our population is immature for those speeds. No sir, it seems our politicians are. Even with the lack of those cameras or speed challans not everyone was crashing in to each other. 80 kph is too less to be called a speed limit in the 21st century.

I wonder how any performance car makes sense at all then with the top speed at 80? You could just install a Li-Ion battery under the driver and passenger seat in a Maruti with a torqey motor and it will do 0 to 80 faster than a BMW M5 after which the puny IC engine will take-over.

Also, there are some sections on the Mumbai Pune "express" highway in the ghats where the speed limit sign says 40 and I remember one even reading 30! Now what modern light motor vehicle needs to slow down to that extent to make the turns? What if they enforce the speed limits there? I think now manufacturers should start thinking about providing auxiliary engines of 200 to 400cc in our cars which can do these speed limits returning 40 kmpl. Or we can also go back to bullock carts, those will surely respect the 30-40 speed limits on the "expressway", or will they?

[tazmaan]

Originally Posted by moralfibre

Good start but expect an idiotic implementation, no less.

This is a friend who got picked for doing 81km/h in a 80km/h zone! I believe even the US permits 10-15% uptick on the prevailing speed limits.

This is India not USA, there is no logic, study or justification to our road design and speed limits. 80 kmph for 3 lane highways is a joke with truck hogging the fast lane at 40 kmph trying to overtake another truck at 39.5 kmph. No other vehicle can be a target except private vehicle who will eventually have to cough up the fine for doing 81 in 80 zone. The only intention is to collect revenue, concern for safety has nothing to do with it.

I support speed limits but there has to be a proper way to approach it like 5% to 10% buffer for wrong calibration and at the same time implementing other rules as well (eg. clearly marked speed limits). I would be very happy to chug along at 80 kmph if I don't have to slow down every 500 meters for trucks/autos/bikes etc in the fast lane.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

Maybe there was a medical emergency that required higher speed to reach on time in safe manner.

In many countries, while the judge/prosecutor might be sympathetic they will still fine you!

In the Netherlands the only way the owner can get out of having to pay the fine, if he or she can prove that the car on the photograph isn’t his/her actual car. As I mentioned before, whether the owner was driving it at the time is not relevant. The owner, by law, is held responsible.

I have two cases where a near identical car as my (company) car was driving around with a copy of my registration plate. I had to go to court twice and proof that it was not my car. Luckily in both cases there were a few small details that were different and I had letters from the dealership confirming.

The judge told the prosecutor he thought I had a good case. The prosecutor reluctantly agreed I had and he would give me the benefit of the doubt, if I would get new registration plates. I told him, I would do so, if that would be part of the verdict. The judge smiled, because of course he could not do that. I had not done anything wrong. Case dismissed.

Jeroen