[Livnletcarsliv]

All I want is to increase the average speed and not the top speed.

All that we want is to cover the 500 km drive in 4.5-5 hours. And not in 7-8 hrs with intermittent 140km top speed, which doesn't make sense at all. With the current driving behavior, road infrastructure, in a 5 hr drive, we can hardly sustain 140kmph for 10-15 mins even in a Ferrari.

The current 120kmph is more than enough for us here in India. The imperative need of the hour is to improve the road infrastructure, enforce the traffic rules to keep left (especially heavy vehicles), stop more than 10-20% of the loading capacity of vehicles, reduce the number of intersections and road breaks, build non-breakable side barriers, improve the service lane usage, fully and efficiently automate the toll collection, stop growing vegetation on the highway dividers and reduce the divider size appropriately, build double side strong barriers instead of concrete dividers, build proper roads that have at least 5-10 years life, etc, etc.

[Lobogris]

Absolutely disastrous idea. In fact even the limit of 120 or 100 is too high. Speed should be limited to 90 on expressways and 80 on the highways. People claiming that 140 would be the maximum speed forget that people always tend to speed beyond the permissible limit. So if we legalise 140, people would push it to 160 or more. Speed is a big factor in safety. Most 5 star rated cars offering excellent protection at 64kmph fail at as low as 80kmph.

Now I will list some reasons why high speeds are not desirable on Indian roads:
1. Rampant wrong side driving by bikes, cars and trucks even on tolled access controlled expressways. There is absolutely no action taken against them.
2. Increasing presence of people and animals as well shops and eateries on and along the road.
3. Cars and trucks parking on the expressway with complete impunity.
4. A large number of trucks lack rear lights and crash barriers.
5. Poorly trained drivers who lack lane discipline and any knowledge of basic traffic rules.
6. Tractors and various other slow unauthorized vehicles without lights drive on expressways with complete impunity.
7. Complete absence of any highway patrol force and the fact that the police themselves are ignorant of most traffic rules. Do we know that most Indian policemen can’t even drive and special drivers are actually hired for each patrol vehicle!!

[Mustang Sammy]

As long as they can keep buffalos and tractors off these expressways.
Not to mention the slooooow trucks doing 50kmph in the fast lane.

[Tucker48]

140 kmph can be easily maintained on access controlled roads for vehicles which are capable of such speeds. For other roads, like national highways etc, which have 2 lanes or less (one way), it becomes difficult to maintain even 100kmph unless other difficult to implement measures are taken by the govt.

Moreover, it's completely unfair a compare a heavily populated country like ours to say a deserted country like Australia.

[laluks]

What I have realised after driving almost a million kilometres in our country is this, speed in itself was never the problem, but the accidents are mainly because of slow moving vehicles and infra. If that is given, why not?

[Axe77]

I think all too often there is an oversimplification of the dangers of speed per se and an underestimation of the dangers of certain kinds of driving style.

I have seen numerous vehicles weaving in and out, cutting lanes with thin margin and similar even at 60 - 80 kmph, jeopardising themselves and others around them.

Equally, I regularly cruise on the Bombay Pune expressway at about 110 - 125 kmph range (with short bursts that could be higher) but without ever feeling on the edge.

The reason: I am a very defensive driver. I will push speed when the road is open but I will leave massive margins while changing lanes, never shock another car in the vicinity, give suitable indicators even while changing lanes, avoid sudden manoeuvres, back off a bit when actually overtaking, or not negotiating a tight overtake when the road curvature is creating a blind corner. I am largely not worried for my own safety on account of other people’s road manners to a fair extent, because as far as possible, I assume the worst of cars around me and calibrate my movement accordingly.

I have done the expressway in both a BMW as well as a Grand i10 and somehow when at the wheel of an i10 I have naturally gravitated towards generally being below 100 / 110 kmph for most part. I simply dont end up pushing beyond that without it being an active decision - its just how I feel with that car as opposed to the BMW.

I believe, that the fact is this:

- Merely because a limit is 140 kmph does not mean every driver will be pushing every car, every second to be at the top end of that limit. However it is handy to know that one is not breaching the speed limit when one is occasionally in a 120 - 140 range where conditions permit.

- Drivers who want to drive at 140 kmph whether without skill or discipline or other general civic sense; they’re not waiting for Gadkari’s permission. They’re doing it regardless and will continue to do so, oblivious to the opinions on this thread. It’s not like existing roads are safer from these drivers because of the current lower limits. Reckless drivers will continue to bust speed limits as well as be a danger on the road even if at lower speeds.

[theabstractmind]

Originally Posted by Livnletcarsliv

All I want is to increase the average speed and not the top speed.

All that we want is to cover the 500 km drive in 4.5-5 hours. And not in 7-8 hrs with intermittent 140km top speed, which doesn't make sense at all. With the current driving behavior, road infrastructure, in a 5 hr drive, we can hardly sustain 140kmph for 10-15 mins even in a Ferrari.

The current 120kmph is more than enough for us here in India. The imperative need of the hour is to improve the road infrastructure, enforce the traffic rules to keep left (especially heavy vehicles), stop more than 10-20% of the loading capacity of vehicles, reduce the number of intersections and road breaks, build non-breakable side barriers, improve the service lane usage, fully and efficiently automate the toll collection, stop growing vegetation on the highway dividers and reduce the divider size appropriately, build double side strong barriers instead of concrete dividers, build proper roads that have at least 5-10 years life, etc, etc.

People like you and I are in minority. Many times I created a reply of a similar nature and didn't post as I thought most won't understand, anyway. But then thought should express support. Increasing speed limit should be the last thing on the priority list for the Government.

Let them make the existing infrastructure more usable. I'm sure it will be enough to increase average speeds to about 90 or 100kmph an hour. That's more than sufficient.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

Originally Posted by akshay4587

WPE is a disaster even if one has to maintain 120km/hr continuously.
I was on WPE a few weeks ago in a Jetta Tdi with cruise control set at 110, and out of no where there comes a unmarked rut and all 4 wheels of our jetta were in air for 1-2 seconds; I cannot fathom the repercussions at 130-140. And there were the usual animals, trucks/bikers occupying any lane they want at less than half the limit.

Our so called Expressway's aren't ready for 140 Speed Limit yet.
Even Globally the acceptable speed limit for most freeways is set at 100-110km//hr

Across Australia there is only one road which has a limit of 130km/hr.
Rest all freeways are 100-110km/hr, and yet average speeds are way higher than they will ever be in india, whether the speed limit is 120/140/160 km/hr.

We have the roads, but no one ever talks about fixing the root cause of all troubles. The average road user's behavior on road.

I agree with you. I have been driving on the WPE in my vento and I don't think anything above 120 is what I would consider smooth even on the Vento.

More than increasing speed limits, its dedicated lanes for certain speed categories that we need. Anybody drives in any lane and increasing the speed limit might just be the license for people to loose their caution a bit.

Also, many expressways are made of concrete where sustained high speeds need good tyres and a consideration to the right air pressure and I am not sure what percentage of people are aware of this.


Rachit

[Arjun Bharadwaj]

The speed limit itself is one thing, but I hope its not highlighted on a board while entering or something lest the drivers think its an obligation to reach that 140 figure and do all sorts or circus to hit their "top speeds"!

Novel ways of thinking by our leadership and hope better roads are also on the top of his priority list. Spend some money saar not just free ideas lol

[zadoom]

I feel that more than increasing the speed limit to 140 km/hr compared to the current 120 km/hr on the expressways as stated by others earlier on this thread, the government should rather focus on how to increase the average speeds on highways . expressways. Eg. Even in Europe the speed limits (except obviously the AutoBahns) are mostly 120 / 130 kmph but there you can achieve an average speed of 110 - 120 kmph however here even with a 120 Kmph speed limit the average speed over say a distance of 200 - 300 kms that you would achieve will be not more than 80 kmph. So rather than only increasing the speed limits we should also focus on where the leakages are and even an average of 110 kmph will help drastically reduce the overall travel times.

The key reasons in my opinion are (and apologies for repeating some of these as others have also mentioned these before) -

1. Trucks and other CV's driving at a snails pace - due to overloading, poor maintenance and whatever other reasons. They then end up blocking lanes and blocking all vehicles
2. Lane discipline - I can take an example of the Mumbai - Pune expressway and you hardly find any cars which drive on the leftmost lane or even the middle one. You end up overtaking from the middle or leftmost lane most of the times as only some give way when you are trying to overtake. Then there are people who like to drive in the middle or 2 lanes or are always drifting towards one or the other end of a lane. Changing lanes without using indicator.
3. Poor design - Look at the way the food plazas have come up on expressway, the exits are just not how they should be on an expressway seamlessly integrating into the main traffic flow.
4. Too many and most of the times irrelevant speed limits - again taking example of mum-pune expressway - even though the speed limit of LMV's is 100 kmph but for most part the speed limits mandated are 40 / 80 even 20.
5. Proper use and understanding of indicators - the assumption always is that as a driver you give an indicator when you have made sure that there is vehicle in the blind spots or dangerously close otherwise you wait for them to cross and then give the indicator. With that assumption the hope is that on giving the indicator the vehicle coming in from behind will let you change lanes however I have seen the impact is kind of reverse, the car behind you will try to speed up to ensure you don't get into their lane. Infact just 2 days back, a car on the left lane just ahead of me gave indicator to move to my lane (middle one) as there was a slow moving vehicle ahead and when I realised I slowed down but the car hesitated to change the lane, I used dipper signal and eventually dropped way behind and that car changed the lane only then.

So I would vote for not increasing the speed limits just yet but rather focus on improving the driving behavior and compliance to the lane rules mostly.

Cheers

[Porcupine]

To implement these changes it is important to firstly increase driver knowledge on not just driving, but also maintenance and upkeep of vehicles. I have witnessed more than a handful of tyre bursts on our highways most which could be argued are due to negligence on the tyre conditions. Further to that, a majority of our drivers don't really follow lane discipline, nor do they have the concept of the inside lanes being the fastest, and choose to weave arbitrarily through the lanes in order to overtake.

[Sanjivvohra]

Wow, so many different opinions!
I would love to have a higher speed limit on highways and expressways, just to get rid of the pesky cops pulling you over when you are driving 10km over the speed limit of 80kmph, when the road and traffic condition is perfectly safe for a 100 - 120kmph speed.

Indian roads have improved ( still a lot to be done, but still.....) and it makes sense to keep the speed limit to the level where it uses the traffic and road conditions to move traffic quickly.

I certainly don't have to take the speed limit as a challenge and try to best it, irrespective of whether the car or driving conditions allow.

[McLaren_P1]

If we’ll have higher speed limits, we definitely need safer cars and safer driving.

5-star global NCAP should be a requirement for future cars sold.

Driving tests should be more rigorous, before giving someone a license. Licenses should be for 4 years, after which another test should be required.

[Geta]

A few random points.

1) While I am very much for a a seasoned driver in his German car touching a 140 every now and then, I am really worried about newbie drivers in their tin cans looking for some adventure on the road, misusing this rule interpreting it as a "license to overspeed"/"license to thrill/kill" and hence becoming a nuisance and safety hazard for themselves and the others on the road. Adding additional sub clauses based on the vehicle's capability will be seen as "anti-poor"

2) I don't think many indian drivers today have the sense of anticipation and prudence to slowdown in adverse conditions, like rainy days, cruising downhill etc. These people will bend the rules to their advantage and argue that they were doing perfectly legal speeds, adverse conditions notwithstanding.

3) All vehicles don't come with powerful brakes to bring vehicles to halt from a 140 kmph speed.

4) If I have to apply a sudden brake today on a highway to avoid hitting a stray canine or a confused motorist, I will do it today without a second thought. But if this rule comes into effect, I will most certainly avoid sudden braking to prevent me getting rear ended by a big vehicle behind me.

[Sanjunair5]

On the Mumbai Pune Express Way the authorities are now way more stringent about enforcing speeding tickets than before. Last weekend, while on a round trip to Mumbai from Pune, I noticed this never seen before discipline, with almost all the cars driving between 80-100kmph. The most comforting part was the discipline, the knowledge that you are not going to have another car whoosh past you on your left at some crazy speed, the knowledge that most people are going to be driving within the enforced limits. And I perhaps had the least stressful drive (driving doest stress, but you get the drift!) with the cruise control set at 90kmph for most of the journey.

Enforcing this discipline should be the focus. We have enough on speed limits.

Now, coming to the 140kmph limit, I think I will let it slide. The lack of discipline aside, 140kmph is a lot of speed. And even after over 300,000kms of driving I don't think I am skilled enough to handle that kind of speed.