I tried an experiment today. Had to drive to Bombay for some work and left Pune (near Chandani Chowk) at around 11 am. Decided to stick STRICTLY to the speed limit along the way. That means 80 kmph on the expressway unless otherwise mentioned and 60 kmph in city limits.
Here are my observations:
-
It's not easy! I was driving my Vento AT which lacks a cruise control and for the first time I realized how difficult it is to maintain a constant speed on the highway. I set my speed limiter at 80 and every time the melodious long beep sounded I reduced the pressure on the accelerator.
-
It's not good for the engine 80 k's in sixth gear is around 1500 rpm. So you can imagine the moment the speed dips to even 70, the revs become to low and the engine starts to lug. I had to manually downshift quite a few times to avoid this. Mucho irritating.
-
80 is too low! The speed limit has absolutely no scientific basis that I can think of. for most of the flat stretches (Pune side to Lonavala and then Khalapur to Panvel) the natural speed that can safely be sustained is around 120 kmph. Even 100 would be a sensible limit on these stretches. 80 is ridiculous.
-
30 and 40? Really!! i noticed there are 2 or 3 zones that are marked as speed limit= 30/40. I actually tried in ALL earnestness to bring my speed down to that but trust me, it is physically impossible without ending up being at an absolute crawl relative to the other traffic plying. Consider that these are typically sections of the e-way that are 2-lane and it only compounds the issue. Safe to say it is downright dangerous to stick to the limit on these stretches. Around 20 over the limit is what appears to be a natural speed here.
-
Unmarked/wrongly marked sections!!: Shockingly the Amrutanjan bridge section, which is the most accident prone part of the e-way, has no marked speed limit. There are a couple of other unmarked stretches as well where the limit cannot reasonably be the same as on the flat sections. The marked speed limit goes from 80 to 30 with no warning at all. The system is designed for failure. To cite an extreme case, any cop can position himself at the spot where the 80 limit suddenly changes to 30 and ticket me for being over the limit. In the US, speed limits change in increments of 10 mph from my observation.
But it wasn't all bad!
-
I was calmer and more focused on my surroundings. Too often we shift into autopilot mode on long drives and it is quite a relief to be aware of everything around you, which happens when you are single-mindedly focused on maintaining the speed limit, irrational as it may appear!
-
I was in total control of my car Slower is indeed safer, with reaction times improving substantially at 80 compared to say 120, which everyone else seemed to be doing. The only caveat is of course not get in the way of someone doing 120 in the slow lane (which does happen!)
-
FE heaven! I normally get 18 kmpl on the downhill stretch and 15 kmpl overall. This trip I clocked a wonderful 22.6 kmpl over the 111 km stretch from my home to Panvel. By the time I got home it was down to 18 kmpl, but still a substantial improvement.
- Apart from all of this, I also basked in the warm glow of self-righteousness that comes from following the law
I was half-hoping to get pulled over like some members have reported and telling the cop about my experiment. Alas, that will have to wait another day!