[Zed]

Originally Posted by vb-san

1) Even in developed countries with better infrastructure/roads and better equipped buses/coaches, the speed limit for heavy vehicles are governed and observed diligently. For e.g.; I believe in EU, the speed limit for heavy vehicles are around 80-100 kmph.
2) These long distance buses from/to Kerala normally cover the distance of 500+ kms with just a couple of breaks in between. The fatigue factor due to continuous driving throughout the night is something which is normally overlooked in the name of convenience.

It’s easy to dismiss these actions as money-minting exercise, or harassment against road-users/bus operators. But a death toll of around 700+ (in the first 3 months of 2013) on Kerala roads surely does not happen with sane driving.

A valid argument indeed. Yes - speed limits are enforced in many western nations in spite of even modern infrastructure, equipment and driver training. My understanding is that the basis for this is occupant safety - i.e a bus crashing at 120 kmph may not protect occupants to the same degree as a modern pascar. I maybe wrong though. In which case there has to be a valid reason for the speed limit. Emissions ? Braking distance ?

For all those advocating higher speed limits for buses in India - Raising the limit from 70-80 kmph to 100-110kmph does not proportionally increase the average speed unless the driver is on 'no fear' mode. Besides the time saved is not as significant as many might believe. On the flip side the risk and intensity of an accident is significantly different between 80kmph and 100kmph if one factors in braking distances and controllability.

Like many in this forum I used to enjoy those thriller bus rides during my younger days. Ignorance was bliss!

[Chetan_Rao]

A good, safe road is much more than a smooth stretch of multi-lane tarmac. I drive the Bangalore-Mysore highway often, and I've had several surprises even with my sedate driving style. Blind sweeping turns, median gaps obscured by shrubs, lane-cutting at highway speeds, I've witnessed it all. Given all that, I get uncomfortable with anything beyond the 80-100kmph range.

Most of us think the speed limits on our highways are a joke, decided by out-of-touch babus sitting in government offices. But we all forget that these limits need to account for all factors affecting that stretch of road (and not just quality of tarmac), which in our country unfortunately includes animals, cyclists, tractors, autos and a myriad collection of other slow-moving and unpredictable traffic. Add to that unsafe cars with skinny tyres and no safety equipment in a VFM-crazy nation. A recipe for disaster.

We may want (and hope) that these hindrances disappear, but we need to factor them into the scenario as long as they exist. As good as a driver we may consider ourselves to be, our driving conditions are impossible to predict accurately all the time and react appropriately to, and mistakes are easy to make. At 150 kmph, even an instinctive flick of the wrist to avoid something on the road could prove fatal.

(Some of) our cars may be capable of cruising at triple-digit speeds all day, most of our roads aren't. And the 'I need to get home fast' argument is a double-edged sword. You (or someone you crash into doing insane speeds) may never get home at all. And with the kind of grueling work hours most travel companies put their drivers through, I wouldn't want to be riding in (or in the way of) a bus driven by a groggy, half-asleep driver doing 100+ kmph.

[jkdas]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=16BGwDs92Hg

And unless with speed governors, they should do 100plus easily.


Beschleunigung 0-100 Messwerte in sec 38.1 (Volvo 9700)
http://www.omnibusrevue.de/fm/2348/B...upertest_6.pdf

Does this mean it does 0-100 on 38sec only?

[rajeev k]

A kallada Travels bus from Bangalore heading to Kerala met with an accident and three persona lost their dear life. The bus had taken a deviation as a shortcut and was over speeding as per press reports.

Pic courtesy Malayala Manorama daily

Originally Posted by vb-san

I hope these measures by Mr. Singh and team does not remain short term. I feel these strict measures – enforcement of speed limits, lane discipline, dipping of headlamps etc. can bring a huge difference to the road safety scenario in the state.
But a death toll of around 700+ (in the first 3 months of 2013) on Kerala roads surely does not happen with sane driving.

The main causes of the increasing death rates in the Road Accidents in Kerala are many and generally are:

1. Not knowing or not adopting correct driving habits.
2. Increasing number of New generation vehicles especially Two wheelers.
3. Aggressive driving behavior of Heavy vehicle drivers especially Private Buses & Tipper Lorries.
4. Drivers sleeping while driving especially of Heavy vehicles & light motor vehicles after midnight due to fatigue and other reasons.
5. Over speeding.
6. Bad condition of Roads and absence of different lanes.
7. Driver /Rider's ignorance of Road conditions, Road signs and the Environmental factors.
8. Driver /Rider's ignorance or violation of Traffic Rules.
9. Drunken Driving/Driving without seat belt.
10. Driving without Helmet.

sourc: Kerala Police site

[honeybee]

I read a comment- speed is seldom a reason for accidents. Far from the truth. In fact, faaaaaaar away.

In most cases you will find if the driver had obeyed the speed limits and had not been accelerating mindlessly, accidents could have been avoided.

Speed - mindless and fuelled only by the car's engine's revving capacity and the senseless urgency of the driver, without any regard to any other parameters is one of the biggest causes.

Look everywhere around you: my car can easily do x kmph! But what about me? What about my surroundings? What about the road condition? What about the climate, the time of day? Nobody wants to think. They want to reach there physically before their mind reaches there.

[Urban_Nomad]

Originally Posted by avira_tk

The fine could be justified by saying its the law, but to pretend that risks are similar at midnight and rush hour is quite a stretch. The buses are the lifeline for folks in Kerala, so unless the government is going to introduce new trains that give people in the interior a better choice, I am going to cut some slack to fast buses.

We cry ourselves hoarse that traffic rules and broken by many every single day and how unsafe this country has become for motorists in general. When the same police cracks the whip; we say "its too much".

Driving at insane speeds in the middle of the night is OK because we do not have adequate no. of trains ..... Huh? I am puzzled and quite disappointed reading the above post (and many others alike); especially as this (obviously) comes from an educated and productive member of the community. If this is how the educated class of this country feels; then I truly am at a loss for words.

This heavy fine would make this guy shiver in his boots every times he thinks of overspeeding.... at any stretch of the road. This is a 1000 times better than some cops stopping him and collecting a few hundred rupees in bribe (then we would crib about lack of transparency and how there should be a better way of fining the miscreants).

Let me narrate a small incident. Every night; post mid night I take my bike out for a quick spin. A few nights ago; a trcuk just blasted through an intersection at pretty high speeds. I knew there was a police post a km or so ahead so I went in that direction too. Obviously; the trcuk slowed down and the sleepy cops seemed too happy to let him pass. Only I got ahead of this truck; parked the bike on the side (outside the trcuker's path) and gestured the cops to stop the truck. 3 police men sprung to action and blocked the truck's path with barricades. The trucker got an earful from me and the cops but to my dismay; he was just let go with a warning.

Had a similar speed camera caught this juggernaut; it could have been the end of his wild streak. I am thrilled with the Kerala (?) police's action. Kudos to them; may their tribe grow!!!

Oh and you are correct - dangers in the day time are very different from the ones at night. At night (especially around "odd hours"); they increase 10 fold.

Originally Posted by honeybee

I read a comment- speed is seldom a reason for accidents. Far from the truth. In fact, faaaaaaar away.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by Divya Sharan

Which bus does 150 kmph at night loaded with people? Moreover, 1.24L for multiple breaches. 42 checkpoints mean 1.24L/42 = almost 3k per checkpoint.

3000 rupees for overspeeding (per camera)

See what happens when NFS MW BE goes viral? Toll Booth challenge.

A Volvo BR * will smoke most of the cars out here, if in the right hands. I think the steering is extremely precise.

It takes an idiot to crash one of those. As we know, ZMR cant do that. VOLVO can with a full load of travellers!

Overspeeding to me is a little different... Because I do believe doing 50kms/hr in a tvs50 is more dangerous than doing 150 on a VOLVO. yes I meant the BUS.

But, lets all respect the law of the land.

[xenonz1]

Originally Posted by KPS

In God's Own Country an over speeding fine of Rs. 1.24 lakhs was imposed on a bus operator



Please see link for full details

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper...cle5047569.ece

I wonder if this can be legally treated as an multiple offence for the same violations?

Cheers

KPS

150 kmph??????? I doubt if a bus can do that speed.. however i had driven from Bangalore to Guruvayur via Mannuthy and the road was a "Spine-Breaker" and also shake the car to pieces. Aweful is too small a word to describe it.

[wildsdi5530]

I'm not sure about handling at high speeds, but the low speed maneuverability of 9400 is as good or better than modern cars. The braking is phenomenal. I once had an opportunity to drive a 9400 within the compound and jammed the brake like one would in Tata or AL, the bus stopped on a coin with much bobbing. Apparently a feather touch is all that's required.
@vibbs: Airavat volvo will never drive fast. They get bonus based on fuel efficiency. Infact once in Coimbatore I was in an Airavat and the bus was delayed for 45 mins. The bus driver refused to switch on the A/C till 10 mins before starting citing fuel concerns. If Airavat was doing 111kmph, the driver must have been very rash. they rarely touch 100kmph.

[IronH4WK]

Not true! I was once chased by an Airavat between Mysore and Bangalore. The driver was driving very rash; bullying other drivers and weaving through traffic like he owned the road. At one time he came right behind me an blasted the horn! I had to accelerate in excess of 125kmph to outrun him.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Not true! I was once chased by an Airavat between Mysore and Bangalore. The driver was driving very rash; bullying other drivers and weaving through traffic like he owned the road. At one time he came right behind me an blasted the horn! I had to accelerate in excess of 125kmph to outrun him.

Scary! MTC does that at 40 Kms/hr! When was any Govt.owned transport bus stoped or has been given a ticket? Ive seen a few cops, pull down a few.
So what does it take?

crash a bus, on a fly over where bikers wouldnt dare 50kms/hr, Do it on a MTC, over speed, wrong gear wrong speed, right no on the phone.

When in Rome, be a Roman.

When in India, watchout for your bottom.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by IronH4WK

Not true! I was once chased by an Airavat between Mysore and Bangalore. The driver was driving very rash; bullying other drivers and weaving through traffic like he owned the road. At one time he came right behind me an blasted the horn! I had to accelerate in excess of 125kmph to outrun him.

I am surprised to read about 150 kph being done by multi axle bus sold in India. I have been on B9Rs on the Bangalore - Mumbai and the Bangalore - Hyderbad roads in private and SRTC buses also. And I have done a couple of trips with the GPS on throughout the journey. . Now anyone who has travelled on these roads will agree that there are some straights that are sufficient to land even an aircraft , which turn means ,most indian vehicles can max out their speedos.

The max that I have seen was about 112 to116 kph in B9Rs while 109 kph was the max I had seen in a B7R.

Even when driving , I have seen B9Rs keep upto 130 on my speedo which would equate to 117kph true speed assuming 10% speedo error.

I am waiting for some of the HCV experts to comment on this.

Also aren't all buses sold in India supposed to have speed governors of 100kph ?

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by YaeJay

See what happens when NFS MW BE goes viral? Toll Booth challenge.

A Volvo BR * will smoke most of the cars out here, if in the right hands. I think the steering is extremely precise.

It takes an idiot to crash one of those. As we know, ZMR cant do that. VOLVO can with a full load of travellers!

Overspeeding to me is a little different... Because I do believe doing 50kms/hr in a tvs50 is more dangerous than doing 150 on a VOLVO. yes I meant the BUS.

But, lets all respect the law of the land.

I hope you were being sarcastic in your post.

Those buses are a means of public transport, not a racing toy to 'smoke' competitors, and given the quality of driving on display in & around Bangalore, the Volvos are definitely not in the right hands, safety-wise. Ever heard of the cliche "With great power comes great responsibility"? These modern buses are extremely powerful and maneuverable as you mention, but that should make the drivers more careful while handling it, not less.

I've been at the receiving end of these slick drivers on multiple occasions both in the city and on the highway, and one's left with no option but to get out of the way, or risk getting side-swiped/run off the road. 'Maniacal' doesn't even begin to describe the kind of driving on display.

And I agree with you, we should respect the law of the land. But before that, we should respect our own safety and of other road users around us. Laws change with the times, it's your sense of safety that will keep you alive on the road.

[Chetan_Rao]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

I am surprised to read about 150 kph being done by multi axle bus sold in India. I have been on B9Rs on the Bangalore - Mumbai and the Bangalore - Hyderbad roads in private and SRTC buses also. And I have done a couple of trips with the GPS on throughout the journey. . Now anyone who has travelled on these roads will agree that there are some straights that are sufficient to land even an aircraft , which turn means ,most indian vehicles can max out their speedos.

The max that I have seen was about 112 to116 kph in B9Rs while 109 kph was the max I had seen in a B7R.

Even when driving , I have seen B9Rs keep upto 130 on my speedo which would equate to 117kph true speed assuming 10% speedo error.

I am waiting for some of the HCV experts to comment on this.

Also aren't all buses sold in India supposed to have speed governors of 100kph ?

I'm not sure how effective the speed governors are. Most airport shuttles here in Bangalore are driven rashly at high speeds (esp. on the highway stretch outside the city) while the speed governor warning keeps beeping away.

[speedsatya]

Originally Posted by Chetan_Rao

I'm not sure how effective the speed governors are. Most airport shuttles here in Bangalore are driven rashly at high speeds (esp. on the highway stretch outside the city) while the speed governor warning keeps beeping away.

The BMTC airport shuttles through driven very rash max out at close to 90 kph. I haven't seen any of these buses do more than 8X kph