[abhishek46]

As per news sources, Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari, has proposed to increase the speed limits on existing roads & highways.

Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday asked his ministry officials to revise the maximum speed limits for vehicles and to increase them by 20kmph for different categories of roads. He also directed the officials to put in place a mechanism for uniformity of speed limits on certain stretches rather than effect frequent changes in notified speed limits even on short stretches.

Currently, the maximum speed limit notified by the road transport ministry is 100kmph on national highways for cars and 120kmph on expressways. But the state police and other agencies have the authority to fix the speed limit on highways and expressways falling under their jurisdiction. This has been the main reason why speed limits on certain portions of NHs differ from state to state.

Moreover, different speed limits on a stretch of road, particularly in cities, have been a major problem for commuters. What has compounded the problem are inadequate number of signs displaying allowed speed limits.

Sources said Gadkari issued the directions to the ministry officials while chairing a review meeting.

Last year Gadkari had flagged how local police were penalising commuters driving at more than 40kmph on multi-lane highways within city limits and called this “unfortunate”.

However, considering that speeding is the leading cause of road crashes and fatalities, road safety experts have maintained that the speed limits on roads must be well defined and notified.

Source: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other...cid=entnewsntp

Key take-aways from the proposal
1. Hopefully, no more fines for speeding @40Kmph!
2. Speed limits which are more inline with reality.
3. Abundance of Speed limit 'sign boards' i.e. Optimum awareness of the speed limit for every stretch of road.

Disclaimer
Proposals & Directives are one thing, and on-the-ground implementation is another.

[2000rpm]

I think the only ministry which is firing all guns is the Transportation Ministry.

• Recall Reporting system
• Fast Tag
• EV PUSH and now
• Revision of speed limits

Not a bad achievement list!

Well done Mr. Gadkari.

[RavSam]

I love the transportation ministry.
There are many hits but also few misses.
One is banning old cars without checking their road worthiness.
And the other one personally is the Mumbai-Goa highway.

While I see rapid progress of the other roads I am just appalled at the condition of the Mum-Goa highway.

Presently it's like going from Kashmir to Kaniyakumari via West Bengal. Mumbai to Goa via Pune and Kolhapur! In some places the road on one side is of tarmac while on the other side is of cement. That too at the same exact spot!

Few places have completely crappy road which has been under construction for very VERY long. Why does it have such a secondary treatment when it's one of the most used and important roads is beyond me.

While I really appreciate the progress at other places but as it's human nature I would love that the things speed up at route that I travel by the most.

Please Mr. Gadkari, let us have seamless travel to Goa till you are in power.

[Turbohead]

Finally some sense prevails!

Highways should always have a consistent speed limit which should be decoupled from whatever municipal limit it passes through.If the highway is passing through a crowded city, it should be treated as a city road and an appropriate bypass should be built.

Finally someone at the top recognises that. I'm expecting the states to fight back because fining motorists with ridiculously low speed limits is a major revenue earner.

[gkveda]

Idea is good. The government also need to compliment their decision by installing some sort of barriers on the medians on NHs so that people, bikers or animals won't appear in front of the high speed vehicles out of the blue.

I think government should realise, today, speed is not the major cause of accidents. It is the careless people, over confident bikers and over ignorant animals that cross the medians in the midst of bushes that are grown on medians that are responsible for 80% of the highway accidents.

While Passing rules and changing the limits is also part of responsible government, it is equally responsible to build required safety infrastructure on roads in the interest of citizens and drivers. Else, this increases the probability of accidents as anticipated.

[haisaikat]

We are moving in a good direction.

The speed limit increase will call for

• more disciplined driving including maintaining lanes
• being observant of road signs
• prevention of unwanted road crossing
• slow vehicle movement like Autos and Rickshaws
• ever crowded busses who need excuses to stop every now and then

[aargee]

Currently, the maximum speed limit notified by the road transport ministry is 100kmph on national highways for cars and 120kmph on expressways. But the state police and other agencies have the authority to fix the speed limit on highways and expressways falling under their jurisdiction. This has been the main reason why speed limits on certain portions of NHs differ from state to state.

Moreover, different speed limits on a stretch of road, particularly in cities, have been a major problem for commuters. What has compounded the problem are inadequate number of signs displaying allowed speed limits.

Instead of this, I would be still happy with existing or even foregoing another 20 Kmph capped 80 Kmph limit...PROVIDED

• The jaywalkers are confiscated
• The cattle are impounded, stray dogs impelled
• Accidents are fairly, swiftly & justly tended
• Careless two-wheelers (not limited to) are educated
• Lane discipline & speed limit is enforced, road rage is controlled
• Obnoxious parking are fined
• RTO & Inspector traced to be accounted for mishaps

[TusharK]

Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport and Highways, has asked officials to increase the maximum speed limits for vehicles on different categories of roads by 20 km/h.



At present, the maximum speed limit for M1 category vehicles on expressways is 120 km/h and on 4-lane roads with a median is 100 km/h.

The minister has also directed the officials to make sure that there is uniformity of speed limits on certain stretches of roads and that the speed limits are not changed frequently on short stretches, as it was observed that state police have been fixing speed limits on highways that fall under their jurisdiction. This is the reason why speed limits on certain roads differ from state to state.

In either case, speed limits should be well defined and there should be adequate signs displaying the allowed speed limits. This would reduce a lot of confusion and inconvenience while making roads a lot safer.

Source: TOI

Link to Team-BHP News

[Kosfactor]

As we have made vehicles more powerful, fuel efficient, safer it's only logical to increase the speed limits and put those big highways to full use. Good move.

Imagine the things you can do if you can cover 500kms in 5 hours instead of 10 hours. It's going to be the fastest mode of transportation.

[Samba]

Makes absolute sense.

Specially the uniformity of speed limit is very important.

At places I have seen on a highway, where the limit is 100 km/hr, suddenly a board has been put up mentioning 40 km/hr and to achieve the monthly target, state police will invariably put the speed guns over there.
Now to reduce the speed from 100-40 km/hr by seeing the board is absolutely risky!

Speed limit boards should be put scientifically. Putting limits by the whims of someone should be strictly avoided.

In West Bangal, placing barricades in the middle of highways (NH & SH) and city roads to control speed limit is just ridiculous and unscientific. It increases the risk of accidents.

Plus these kind of speed limit boards are common! The one which says 30km/hr is a straight 4 lane road with wall on both sides and no intersection in next 1-2 km and the one mentioning 65 km/hr is a single lane road (one way), which has a curve & and intersection within the next 80m!



Designing a proper highway with proper speed limit is important. Old Indian highways have too many design flaws which leads to accidents.
Hope Mr.Gadkari will slowly address these issues too.
This man is making a move in the right direction. Starting from taking care about the toll-booth delays to rectifying the faulty speed limits are definitely a move towards positivity.

[livelyyoungman]

Good move from the Transport Dept Head. But it is the ineffectiveness of implementation is what is killing this. For example, in KL on highways you have signals...
Unless and until there is sheer will nothing will change and this will is lacking big time.

[livelyyoungman]

Transport ministry is firing on all sides. Much needed for a country like ours. Road infrastructure was at its worst until we had the Golden Quadrilateral built. With Mr. Gadkari heading the Transport, things have always improved for better though there have been few misses. The same holds good for Indian Railways. Lots of improvements have been done. One of the departments that did not sleep during the lock-down period. For example, Elephant Gate work near Chennai Central was done quickly during the lockdown - this has ensured smooth flow of rail traffic from and to Chennai MGR Central

[Car's Paradise]

No point in revising the speed limits on our national highways by Govt. IMO, as the existing speed limits are barely followed by all the class of vehicles be it 2 wheelers, 4 wheelers, trucks and buses. Above it, proper monitoring system to check vehicles abiding to the existing speeds limits are not in place everywhere.

Much needed move by NHAI is to regulate and monitor the lane discipline followed on our national highways. Its a pain to drive on highways now, as trucks fills up all the lanes overtaking each other at crawling speeds, which compels driving a car driver to drive in a zig zag way cutting lanes, which IMO is unsafe and also very tiring for long distance journeys. The rule for lane driving as per vehicle class is already defined by NHAI but monitoring of the same is not done which I feel should be implemented to make highway journeys more safe and quicker.

I really appreciate the infrastructural development being done by NHAI and Gadkari Ji but IMHO lane discipline monitoring should be implemented taking into first priority rather then setting up new speed limits.

[saikarthik]

A very good move and the visibility of the speed limits should be well ahead of the actual zone and at least a couple of boards. Sometimes even people who genuinely follow the rules might miss if it's just one board. If there is uniformity, even the life of OEMs and Navigation service providers become easy for alerts.

And I think there should be awareness to both users and enforcers if there are no speed limit signs (for some reason) what should apply based on category of road network.

The crossings should also have good visibility from long without any vegetation/infrastructure cover. Installing speed traps in key crossings based on accident data analysis can also help in reducing these incidents.

[msdivy]

Instead of top speed, shouldn't the focus be on *average* speed?