[cedricsg]

Another example of copying a rule from a developed country with great civic sense and applying it conveniently to some parts in India. The issue with Mumbai Pune Expressway are trucks and commercial vehicles driving in wrong lanes. I don’t see any effort it solving this. Also though FastTag is implemented it’s not as frictionless as I have seen in other parts of the world. Also how do we solve for underspending, which forces you for a zig gag. The larger question is how do you enforce civic sense that will create a safer driving experience.

[rpunwani]

What is extremely bizarre is the 50 km/h speed limit on the ghat section which is very difficult to adhere to, specially when coming down the ghats. Wish they increase this to 65-70 km/h.

In a few months from now, most of the ghat section will be bypassed with the new connector - most of which is a tunnel. Having a speed limit of 50 km/h in the tunnel will be disastrous.

National Expressways have a speed limit of 120 km/h including the Mumbai - Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, the Mumbai - Pune Expressway was designed for 150 km/h. Then why restrict speed to 100 km/h

[Rodie09]

So, what is the mechanism of identifying the erring vehicle - how is the number plate read? Is that automated? Are there any fines going to be on non standard number plates or would they be let go while only the good compliant motorists fall in scope of the speed guns?

[ranjeet_garde]

Globally the express is designed for quicker travel times and faster speeds. This takes away all the benefits of the High toll and penalize commuters for using the expressway for the very purpose it as built for.

I find myself taking the old mumbai highway, as the commuting time is same with no speed traps and saves the high toll as well.

[anjan_c2007]

Sounds too rosy and is meant to enthuse the law-abiding drivers as well as others who follow the rulebook. Also a thumbs down to those money minting, cruel and agonising challans that vehicle owners have to bear up with on this celebrated E-way that has lately become a E-Challan Way. The stubborn and unrealistic speed limits set impractically are very retrograde.

My experience with publicly placed CCTV cameras in Maharashtra cities since nearly a decade says that most these CCTV cameras stop working after a certain period of time. In cities whereas few thousand of these have been installed with much fanfare and hype, getting inaugurated by the top state ministers, most have conked off. Since about five years most of these are non functional having been installed nearly a decade ago. The press reports about these e-lemons from time to time but neither the civic officials, nor traffic police or RTO reveal how many of the thousands installed are working and how many thousands are in a sleep mode. Their repairability is also questionable as rarely have we seen the dysfunctional one being repaired.

Once while inaugurating, the state Chief Minister had said that these are so very advanced that before the person who commits a traffic offence reaches home, his challan will reach his doorstep. Laughable indeed ! And now the condition of the CCTV cameras is that even drivers of overloaded autorickshaws with passengers jump signals from traffic junctions where they know such e-lemons are installed and these are supposed to oversee and detect their offences from up above there but below the Almighty. They commute many times a day on these routes and behave like disciplined recruits at locations where the cameras are working but show their true colours at places where there are paralysed or comatose CCTV cameras.

I am not sure whether these 430 "advanced cameras" we are discussing will be sourced from somewhere else to last for years or from the same land of MG/Geely Motors/ BYD ?

[CarCar]

Recently, on Hyderabad's Outer Ring Road(ORR), we heaved a big sigh of relief when the authorities increased the speed limit FROM 100kmph TO 120 kmph, for the right two lanes. (left two lanes' speed limit remains 80kmph). I suspect it was to enable faster VIP vehicles' movements(read Fortuners).

It's a lot easier now to travel the extra 50 to 70km, when we use the ORR, to avoid cutting across the city during peak traffic times.

But one problem now are some cars going at 70kmph in the 120knph lane.
And as rightly said, slower drivers in fast lanes on expressways need to be penalised.

[GTE]

Originally Posted by ranjeet_garde

I find myself taking the old mumbai highway, as the commuting time is same with no speed traps and saves the high toll as well

The point is that the people in charge have absolutely no idea what they should be doing everything is done on a whim. Until we get sensible people we will continue to have these ridiculous rules. We sorely need a well funded automobile association to challenge all this stupidity.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by Axe77

The issue is not just your willingness to absorb the cost. You could easily be a safe and responsible driver, driving with lane discipline and never cutting other drivers off, being unpredictable or being a threat to other road users and YET, rack up a bunch of speeding tickets with these lop sided enforcements.

Add to that, if vehicle insurance gets linked to speeding violations at some point in the future, the cost will increase substantially and not just be limited to a one time challan cost.

[Sam800]

In addition to these, government should put banners at the start and in intermediate distances in all the expressways of India teaching people to maintain proper air pressure in their vehicles as many accidents happen due to tyre burst in these expressways. There shall be tyre pressure checking and filing points near the toll plaza in expressways. I think they can contribute to lesser accidents on roads.

Mods, delete this post if you feel it’s off topic

[AbhishekMushran]

Originally Posted by rpunwani

What is extremely bizarre is the 50 km/h speed limit on the ghat section which is very difficult to adhere to, specially when coming down the ghats. Wish they increase this to 65-70 km/h.

In a few months from now, most of the ghat section will be bypassed with the new connector - most of which is a tunnel. Having a speed limit of 50 km/h in the tunnel will be disastrous.

National Expressways have a speed limit of 120 km/h including the Mumbai - Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway, the Mumbai - Pune Expressway was designed for 150 km/h. Then why restrict speed to 100 km/h

Travelled from Pune - Mumbai & back last week & the no of speed camera have definitely gone up. The only difference this time was i used an app called Radarbot. This app detects speed camera a kilometer before & warns you well in advance the best part was it was not only fixed cameras but also mobile camera that this was able to detect. Do try this app when you do a drive next time & it will help you in keeping your challans in check :-)

[theabstractmind]

Folks, if you want to break rules, do so. But don't openly profess it and justify it. This only talks of the urban elitism. Saying that I will budget for fines or use apps to circumvent the cameras etc., is blatantly promoting bad behavior. I know the driving conditions are not ideal in our country as it is. Don't please encourage contribution to it.

If anything, you blaming others who are not following rules has no substance when you are willingly doing what you are not supposed to, especially when a forum member here is expected to be more rational and educated than the average Joe on the highway or the law enforcement officer who has no concern either for law or citizens.

I can expect to get trolled but still expressing what I know is right.

[rpunwani]

Originally Posted by AbhishekMushran

Travelled from Pune - Mumbai & back last week & the no of speed camera have definitely gone up. The only difference this time was i used an app called Radarbot. This app detects speed camera a kilometer before & warns you well in advance the best part was it was not only fixed cameras but also mobile camera that this was able to detect. Do try this app when you do a drive next time & it will help you in keeping your challans in check :-)

I too have used Radarbot (free version) in the past but deleted the app as some of the locations of cameras on the app were incorrect. A good option is to use Waze - heavy on data though.

Having said that, I stick to the speed limits strictly. Tunnels have a speed limit of 80 km/h as of now. They have speed cameras installed at exits of the tunnels

[parambyte]

The Mumbai Pune Expressway Toll is Rs 320 one way for cars.
Maybe they should reduce that since this is no longer an “expressway”. Now there are so many more side roads joint this one, legendary traffic jams Etc.

[ex-innova-guy]

Originally Posted by theabstractmind

Folks, if you want to break rules, do so. But don't openly profess it and justify it. This only talks of the urban elitism.

With due respect nobody here is promoting over-speeding but rather the problems associated with the expressway.

As said

Originally Posted by Hayek

This is going to be another disaster - at any rate, I have decided that I just assume there will be ₹4-6 k of fines on any Poona journey and treat that as part of the cost of a driving holiday.

This is very true and I myself have experienced this firsthand while having travelling hardly 10% over the speed limit and thus got ₹4k fine for a to and fro trip on the same day

I have travelled on the expressway loads of time and the other problem associated with it now would be people speeding in the first lane and suddenly braking hard just to not get challans but might cause accidents. Mind you this is not at all new on the expressway but this is further going to increase since the number of cameras have increased.

[antz.bin]

I travelled on the Trans Haryana Expressway a couple of months back. It has a similar number of cameras along the way and also has a 100kmph speed limit.

The first time I drove there, it was the most boring drive I have ever done. Nothing happened. I drove at a constant 95-97. Had nothing to do because everyone else was also driving at 95-97. There was hardly any need to change lanes or overtake. It was so boring I started feeling drowsy (the drive was after lunch and towards the end of a 800km drive). Decided in my mind that I will not come via this road on the return leg.

BUT, after a few days, I realised that this was probably the most peaceful 300odd km I have ever driven in my life. The most stress free, fast (in terms of avg. speed) and fuel efficient my drive has ever been. This changed my mind and I ended up taking the same route back and liked the convenience.

I think we should give the missing link and this new rule a chance to meet their objectives. We may all end up being better off with it.