[Guna]

The Madras High Court has stopped the proposal of the central government to fix the highway speed at 120 kilometres/hour.
https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/madr...ndtv_topscroll
@mods please delete if the thread already exists

[gkveda]

When will the court stop interfering with Motor design or traffic rules? I am not surprised if courts start passing the judgement like below in future:

Highways shall not be asphalted going forward
Vehicles shall not move around on roads
Passengers shall not travel by private vehicles when traveling intercity
Cars shall not have black colors painted
Cars shall not have more than 4 gears.
Cars shall not have fuel tank greater than 20 litres capacity.
Cars shall not have more than 1 wiper.

Probably these judges were Petrol heads during their childhood and had the ambition of becoming automobile designers. And non fulfilment of their desires have led to this situation.

Seriously, why do courts decide these laws? Is it not government responsibility to decide on road Speed limits?

[matizcrazy]

Judicial overreach is a serious issue today. I wonder how the collective wisdom of the entire Govt machinery, the executive and the legislative can be overruled by one person has no specialized knowledge of any matter.
There is a limit to information, evidence and data that can be brought up to the bench, and how much can be logically absorbed. The recent judgement regarding opening up the NDA to women applicants is a knee jerk order by a fame seeker; it has thrown the functioning of a premier training establishment of Armed Forces Officers into a tizzy.
Even if such entry were to be considered, it should have been a directive to the concerned Ministry to study and submit feasibility. Very poor indeed.
The MoRTH should ask the judiciary to take over the reins of the country (and keep all matters pending for decades )

[aargee]

Originally Posted by gkveda

Probably these judges were Petrol heads during their childhood and had the ambition of becoming automobile designers. And non fulfilment of their desires have led to this situation.

Seriously, why do courts decide these laws? Is it not government responsibility to decide on road Speed limits?

Boss, this is not the real threat...the real threat is in Kerala!! Where few roads have become awesome & there's a effectively working government speed trap camera, that captures your vehicle number if you're over the limit. Best part? Even if there's no speed limit board, there's a camera!! There're more number of cameras than the road signs!! It isn't fun receiving a tribute for Rs 1500 on each speed limit violation even if you're outside the state (even 83 Kmph in 80 Kmph zone). Worst thing being, there's a slew of camera & traffic signals on a 4 lane NH (e.g. between Thrissur - Palakkad; I tend to think a camera or signal to be found for an average of 2-3 Km on initial 20-25 Km stretch) & that my friend is the torture, 100% pure torture!!

As long as this camera torture is non-prevalent, I'm happy even if Handlooms, Handicrafts, Textiles and Khadi or Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Departments, voice their opinion on speed limits

[the pony]

Though 120kmph looks good on paper and government wants to pat itself on the back for better highways but there are a few practical issues I see:
1. Apart from few long stretches of few kilometres in maybe some low density habitation our NH's freely mingle with state highways and/or passing through city limits which give authorities free hand to set city speed limits and install gizillions of speed cameras. You never get a consistent stetch of meaningful distance for speed to be maintained. E.g. NH 1 between Delhi and Chandigarh being a 6-8 lane stretch passes through many cities and towns one after the other at a distance of 20-30km and speed limits constantly keep on changing.
2. Our road infrastructure and variety of vehicles on road still doesn't allow this much high consistent speed. We can easily find uneven road patches, slow moving bullock carts, tractor trolleys,bus and trucks occupying all lanes even on best of expressways.
I have never been able to put my car on cruise at even a modest speed 90kmph for a good stretch of more than 4-5km in highways and expressways like WPE, EPE or NH1.

[GTO]

While I don't like the courts interfering in such matters, I will agree that India isn't quite ready for 120 kmph cruising just yet. A majority of the budget cars on our roads are more adept for cruising at 80 - 100 kmph, rather than 120 kmph. Plus, the kind of roads we have and the unexpected curveballs we encounter make 100 kmph cruising far safer. More than anything, driving licences are handed out to any 18+ year old with a pulse, so that quality & skill simply isn't there.

[navrddy]

I think, Court is practical in ruling. Just thinking, how many cars in this country are truly capable of speeds > 100 KMPH safely. Not many i guess, also government ruling earlier was more of emotional outreach to all people, without checking necessary systems are in place to implement required guidelines for road safety.
How many highways are designed with barricades, So has to main high speeds consistently, not many very few.

Also, most importantly how many people properly wear seatbelts in the car in what they are travelling ?.
In highways, we have mix of vehicles which are travelling at low speed and highspeed which itself is a disaster, for that matter i put it another way. How many highways have separate dedicated service roads in useable shape for low speed vehicles.

Of late, i have been observing somehow governments is trying to grasp emotional minds of people with vague and non-practical statements.

Analogously, it is similar to bullet train project, That Bullet train only runs between selected cities at cost where is no social and economic justification.
Instead, improve existing infrastructure and then mover to more advanced technologies.

Change cannot be revolutionary, it has to be evolutionary.

[Kosfactor]

Just another example of courts taking over government's job. What is the point of 6/8 lane highways otherwise?

120 is perfectly fine even for an Alto, there are roads in TN, AP and even KA that you can do such speeds for hours together.

[sdp1975]

Since the ruling was pronounced by the Madras HC, does it apply only to Tamil Nadu or to all of India ?

[RedTerrano]

Wait what?
Madras high court is able to override the Central Govt?
I can understand state highways (TN) but national highways?
Does the MHC writ even run outside TN?
Can any legal eagle please clarify?

[srini1785]

Don't read much to it. TN has a long history of contradicting national dikat for political one upmanship. Anyways, I would side with the state on this particular issue. Our NH's are not ready for 120Kmph speed limit.

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

120 is perfectly fine even for an Alto, there are roads in TN, AP and even KA that you can do such speeds for hours together.

Living dangerously! Most budget cars are not designed for continuous travel beyond 100km. Engine performance, Suspension and brakes are designed to an optimum range for safety. You push them away from their safe zone, you risk your life and others.

I saw an unloaded truck trying to keep pace with me in a narrow road at around 80km/h. He was like a Juggernaut weaving through the oncoming traffic with just one goal - massage his bruised ego. I didn't want to encourage his murderous zeal and accelerated faster than he could.

Our highways are littered with cattles, dogs and village folks darting across to lead their lives - dangerously. How many of us have the razor sharp reflexes to act in time ? Our highways are not Autobahns.

[ABHI_1512]

According to the report, the main contention of the court in reducing the speed limit is no improvement in the compliance of the road safety rules by the motorists. While agreeing with the Centre on improved cars and improved infrastructure, the court held the view that due to non compliance by motorists, maximum lives are lost due to speeding and that’s as per the report released by MORTH. The thing is even if the speed limit is set to 80, the non compliance part will still be there unless the authorities act accordingly.

In a country like ours, where there are dearth of barricaded highways, going above the speed of 100 kmph will always remain a dangerous proposition. We can’t even use the Cruise Control feature properly for the fear of someone/something coming suddenly in front of an open highway !!

I would agree with the court on the compliance part of the motorists. Having seen bikers/cars driving down on the wrong flank of the highway, some tractor coming suddenly from a bend or a median gap, heck even a large animal/pothole/guardrail which suddenly appears are all recipe for disasters when one is cruising at speeds more than 100 !!

While some expressways are meant to be driven in speeds excess of 100, not many are sadly and therein lies the problem. I would though hope the speed limits are not set below 100 kmph at least. Agree with GTO and some other members that India as a whole, is not ready for speed limits at 120kmph.

[whitewing]

The court asked the Govt to justify the increase in speed limit, the Govt justified it by

Centre justified its action in increasing the speed limit. It said that keeping in view the better engine technology and improved road infrastructure, an expert committee was constituted to review the speed limits of motor vehicles and as per its recommendations, the maximum speeds for vehicles on different roads had been revised by the Ministry in the April 6 2018 notification.

The court did not agree with the reasoning

However, the present bench observed that though there was a better engine technology and improved road infrastructure, there was no improvement in compliance of the road safety rules by the motorists.
From the report released by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, the number of deaths taking place on roads would prove that more accidents were occurring due to speeding.
When speeding was a major cause for road accidents, it is not known as to how the improvement in road infrastructure and engine technology would reduce accidents. In fact, better engine technology would always be a reason for uncontrolled speed and thereby, cause more accidents, the bench said.

I find it hard to dispute the reasoning of the court.

If the Govt. is convinced that increase in speed limit is warranted, they should have provided a better justification. And maybe hired a lawyer who would vett the responses better.

Although by the logic applied by the court, one could further argue motor vehicles on the road should be stopped because of

no improvement in compliance of the road safety rules by the motorists.

[narayans80]

Unless you have access controlled highways. 120 is impractical to maintain. Its not about doing 120. The problem is about stopping from 120 with miscellaneous traffic.

You can have handful of sections marked for 120 for general NHs. A blanket 120 kph or 20 kph increase is not feasible.