[Aditya]

A speed governor will bring cars' speeds on certain stretches down for sure, but, it's not going to prevent accidents and loss of life. The authorities should pay more attention to the road-worthiness of vehicles, the condition of the roads and disciplined use of the roads by drivers and pedestrians if any success is to be achieved.
Vehicles with poor suspensions, bad brakes and malfunctioning lights are a common sight on our roads. Drivers stop, park and change lanes improperly and without giving any indication. Many vehicles are overloaded. Pedestrians cross wherever they want. Almost every road in Mumbai is in poor condition. Bikes and cars have to resort to agressive lance cutting in order to avoid potholes.
All these points need to be addressed before the speed governor bill is passed.

[amit]

So I can drive my 500bhp Ferrari at 100kmph and coast along and make friends with a 100kmph Maruti 800 at the same time? Sounds good!

Someone said the government should enforce rules like lane discipline. First, the government needs to ensure that the roads have lane demarcations shouldn't they?!

98% of trucks have no tail lights and 100% of them never change their tyres ever. On thursday, a truck was carrying iron rods that were protuding out at 10PM with no tail lights and warning lights/signs (In most cases its an excuse of a dirty brown rag. And the cops expect motorists to spot it?) This was just after the Octroi naka and he drove through a traffic police chowky with cops sitting outside and no one stopped him. If I banged my car into him because I could'nt spot him and the iron rods killed me, the cops would say it was due to overspeeding. The road on the Vashi bridge is under construction and there are absolutely no warning signs telling you of construction material lying on the road. If someone dies it will due to overspeeding and DUI. Everything is the fault of the car drivers.

From what I know, there is a fine of Rs.100, if you don't stop behind the stop line at a traffic light. Let the cops take just one intersection, paint the stop lines and zebra crossings and penalise errant drivers for just 3 hours. The amount they make will be enough for them to abolish tolls for a year!

Oh, and what about jaywalkers?

[abhinav.s]

Originally Posted by rajtheindian

I have seem couple of post talking goverment to take necessery action, I thinik that is stupidity, every individual has to contribute, alone goverment can't enforce the law.

Well said Raj!! Govt alone cannot do anything and individuals must co-operate. But if they make rules such as this then people will find it hard to play along and feel its senseless. Then the issue of the Govt not implementing other rules comes into picture. Instead of this, i feel if they first get their act together and get the other rules to be implemented strictly, we as individuals might not feel the pinch of this new rule (if it comes into existence that is!!!)

Originally Posted by amit

On thursday, a truck was carrying iron rods that were protuding out at 10PM with no tail lights and warning lights/signs (In most cases its an excuse of a dirty brown rag. And the cops expect motorists to spot it?) This was just after the Octroi naka and he drove through a traffic police chowky with cops sitting outside and no one stopped him. If I banged my car into him because I could'nt spot him and the iron rods killed me, the cops would say it was due to overspeeding. The road on the Vashi bridge is under construction and there are absolutely no warning signs telling you of construction material lying on the road. If someone dies it will due to overspeeding and DUI. Everything is the fault of the car drivers.

Oh, and what about jaywalkers?

Stole the thoughts from my mind Amit. Whatever happens its the fault of us car drivers. This is the attitude of police men and general public alike. Dont know when that will change and people will start looking at the actual issue at hand!

[varunsangal]

Pulling up a really old thread here. But just goes to show that the topic is still relevant and the government / authorities still fast asleep.

News in TOI yesterday:

MUMBAI: Bikers and speeding vehicles on Mumbai's major roads like Marine Drive and the highways are a threat to pedestrian safety, the Bombay high court told the state government on Monday. A division bench of Justice Shantanu Kemkar and Justice Girish Kulkarni made the observations while hearing a petition by the Mumbai taximen's union seeking relaxation in the deadline to instal speed governors in commercial vehicles.
"Even private vehicles are violating speed rules. Installing speed governors is only one solution," said the bench. "By making speed governors compulsory, you (government) will take care of the safety of passengers in the vehicle, but what about pedestrians on the road? Do vehicles follow the speed limits prescribed on the roads?" asked the judges.

"Bikers ride rashly at night on the main roads. Marine Drive, Western and Eastern Express Highways, Eastern Freeway and the Palm Beach road are especially vulnerable. Even on the Mumbai-Pune highway, the speed limit prescribed is 80 km per hour. Do vehicles comply with the rules. Something needs to be done to ensure speed limits are followed," said the judges.
The court has asked the Centre to consider a letter written by the state as well as taxi unions and take a decision in light of the fact that speed governors were not available for some categories of vehicles that are used as taxis. The union government has been given three weeks time to take a decision on the issue.

It is ludicrous that while the entire world is figuring out ways to go faster and faster (read hyperloop, bullet trains, F1, German autobahns), Indian authorities are trying to slow down.

The writing is on the wall, some of the things for courts/government to consider:

1. Licencing process: Get the illegal drivers and unqualified drivers off the road.
2. Vehicle maintenance: Remove ill-maintained vehicles (bald tires, breakdowns) from the road.
3. Roads: Make the roads pothole free.
4. Sidewalks: Make the sidewalks free of encroachments, allow the pedestrians to walk on the sidewalk and not on the road.
5. Crossings: Build walkways for pedestrians to cross roads and make sure they are used.
6. Policing: Improve policing of roads, improve the fining process. While there are 1000s of cameras on the street, still see people breaking rules.

While rash driving and over-speeding are definitive issues, speed governors are not the solution. People who want to speed, will figure out ways to remove/disable them and still do what they do. While genuinely careful drivers will not be able to do the sanely allowed speeds even on expressways.

[lawdgawd]

Originally Posted by varunsangal

Pulling up a really old thread here. But just goes to show that the topic is still relevant and the government / authorities still fast asleep.

News in TOI yesterday:



It is ludicrous that while the entire world is figuring out ways to go faster and faster (read hyperloop, bullet trains, F1, German autobahns), Indian authorities are trying to slow down.

The writing is on the wall, some of the things for courts/government to consider:

1. Licencing process: Get the illegal drivers and unqualified drivers off the road.
2. Vehicle maintenance: Remove ill-maintained vehicles (bald tires, breakdowns) from the road.
3. Roads: Make the roads pothole free.
4. Sidewalks: Make the sidewalks free of encroachments, allow the pedestrians to walk on the sidewalk and not on the road.
5. Crossings: Build walkways for pedestrians to cross roads and make sure they are used.
6. Policing: Improve policing of roads, improve the fining process. While there are 1000s of cameras on the street, still see people breaking rules.

While rash driving and over-speeding are definitive issues, speed governors are not the solution. People who want to speed, will figure out ways to remove/disable them and still do what they do. While genuinely careful drivers will not be able to do the sanely allowed speeds even on expressways.

Do all that, and India will switch right back to 1970s.

Illegal drivers and unqualified drivers - if we retest drivers, I doubt even 5% of drivers would be allowed to drive. Expect riots. Expect complete stoppage of commodities transport. Followed by farm sector collapse. Pubic transport and taxis would be largely off the road too.

Maintenance - add to the above riot / revolution situation, there would be no cops or highway authorities available to do this. No resources.

Roads - Less potholes as vehicles reduced by 95%. This is easy.

Sidewalks - very important now, as everyone would be walking.

Crossings - not too important. A car may come by every 5 minutes or so. You can cross easily.

Policing - Not needed on the road, but needed for riot control and perhaps insurgency.

[sanjubaba]

My personal view is - we don't need to be that pessimistic.

Every action can make some improvement for sure.
Please see this

video

.