[darklord]

From July 1st onwards.

New limits for LMV (up to 9-seaters)
6 lane national highways: 110 kmph
4 lane national highways: 100 kmph
Other NH, MC Road, 4-lane SH: 90 kmph
Other SH, major district roads: 80 kmph
Other roads: 70 kmph
Within town limits: 50 kmph

Two wheelers, however, have their limits reduced from 70 to 60.

https://www.manoramaonline.com/news/...s-revised.html

https://www.mathrubhumi.com/news/ker...kmph-1.8642259

English report:

https://www.onmanorama.com/news/kera...ed-kerala.html

[DicKy]

Okay
Am all game.

Install speed cams or AI cams whatever....

With speed limits this reasonable, can't be complaining.

Though can't understand why two wheelers had the speed limit cut down. Differential speed limits are not desirable. That said, better that than cars forced to come down to two wheeler speeds. Anyways, crotch rocketers will fly with their number plates tilted or missing.

[SideView]

Originally Posted by darklord

From July 1st onwards.

New limits for LMV (up to 9-seaters)
6 lane national highways: 110 kmph
4 lane national highways: 100 kmph
Other NH, MC Road, 4-lane SH: 90 kmph
Other SH, major district roads: 80 kmph
Other roads: 70 kmph
Within town limits: 50 kmph

Will the full stretch of MC road have 90? Because i notice at some junctions and specially under speed cams speed makers showing 50kmph.

[madhukarmohan]

Welcome change! Other states should follow this. One thing they could have done is to increase the speed limit of two wheelers to 80kmph for those with a displacement of over 150cc on highways. They can easily implement this by automatic number plate recognition technology where they can compare the registration number of the speeding motorcycle with their database to find the displacement and impose the fine for lower displacement motorcycles.

[jkrishnakj]

Seems quite reasonable.

Two challenges though. 1. Where do we see a 6 lane highway that doesn’t pass through small towns. 2. There is a town that we pass by every 4/5 km or so in Kerala. How does one identify which one is a 50 and what stretch you can take a 90

[sarathlal]

Originally Posted by darklord

From July 1st onwards.

New limits for LMV (up to 9-seaters)

A very welcome move with improved road infrastructure in the state.
And it took almost 10 years for the upgrade.
[OT] Your reporting of the previous speed limit increase in 2014 https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/road-...s-revised.html (Kerala: Speed limit on highways and 4-lane roads revised)

Originally Posted by SideView

Will the full stretch of MC road have 90? Because i notice at some junctions and specially under speed cams speed makers showing 50kmph.

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Two challenges though. 1. Where do we see a 6 lane highway that doesn’t pass through small towns. 2. There is a town that we pass by every 4/5 km or so in Kerala. How does one identify which one is a 50 and what stretch you can take a 90

Whenever road passes through junctions, the speed limit will drop accordingly (Eg 50 here). This will be indicated by the speed limit signages.
And once the junction is passed, there will be similar speed limit signage indicating the change in speed limit back to normal (Eg 90 here)
This is applicable to all sorts of highways and not just MC road.

(These variations in speed limit and corresponding signages very easily visible in the Trivandrum NH66 bypass, especially between Kazhakootam and Airport as the bypass pass through multiple junctions and we can see the switch between 80 - 50 and back to 80's)

Reference video added;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVb7k8mgD9g

At 0.22 seconds, we can see that the bypass speed limit of 80 displayed, and by 1.04 we can see the speed signage of 50 as the road approaches a junction.

[darklord]

Originally Posted by jkrishnakj

Two challenges though. 1. Where do we see a 6 lane highway that doesn’t pass through small towns. 2. There is a town that we pass by every 4/5 km or so in Kerala. How does one identify which one is a 50 and what stretch you can take a 90

Originally Posted by sarathlal

Whenever road passes through junctions, the speed limit will drop accordingly (Eg 50 here). This will be indicated by the speed limit signages.
And once the junction is passed, there will be similar speed limit signage indicating the change in speed limit back to normal (Eg 90 here)
This is applicable to all sorts of highways and not just MC road.

I could be wrong, but the single most longest highway in Kerala will have minimal impact once the widening is finished. I am talking about the NH-66 widening in progress throughout Kerala. As we travel north from Thiruvananthapuram, once we enter Kazhakkoottam flyover, the next at-grade intersection is not until Ernakulam and the next one is in Mahe bypass. This is to the best of my knowledge. If this is the case, then you can cover most of the full length of Kerala without worrying about lower speed limits than 110. Hopefully, in the next couple of years, if deadlines of all 13 reaches are met.

[Turbohead]

I'm damn happy about these changes - these are reasonable limits and it will not be a strain.

Originally Posted by sarathlal

Whenever road passes through junctions, the speed limit will drop accordingly (Eg 50 here). This will be indicated by the speed limit signages.
And once the junction is passed, there will be similar speed limit signage indicating the change in speed limit back to normal (Eg 90 here)
This is applicable to all sorts of highways and not just MC road.

Is it strictly enforced? I've never followed this even with the presence of cameras and I've never got fined.

[Senotrius]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

I'm damn happy about these changes - these are reasonable limits and it will not be a strain.

Is it strictly enforced? I've never followed this even with the presence of cameras and I've never got fined.

Enforcement earlier(wrt AI cameras now) was not as strict primarily due to lack of personnel to hand out these fines is what i heard. The police/IT staff in charge of speed cameras need to first identify and check the speeds/vehicle. Then someone needs to charge the said violator. There was shortage of said staff to do this for the multiple violations. Secondly some are broken,tilted and in general disrepair. So depends on one's luck if we get a speed ticket.
The AI camera, in a way, I think was meant to address these. But that's a joke imho. It's kinda impossible to maintain a stable high speed on Kerala roads due to population density, protests and lack of space to widen said roads.

[ike]

We also need to get rid of traffic signals from national highways. Those are a major irritant while driving around here. It is going to take quite a few flyovers however there is no realistic way out other than that.

[epiccross]

Realistically with the roads now, this doesn't mean anything. Many interior roads are wider than the portion of NH that goes through Mahe, for eg. and if there's a truck ahead or something, you're screwed. And there are many such places/towns and you don't often get stretches where you can even hit these speeds.

Originally Posted by ike

We also need to get rid of traffic signals from national highways. Those are a major irritant while driving around here. It is going to take quite a few flyovers however there is no realistic way out other than that.

Yep. The highly challenging part is that Kerala is so densely populated, and people won't willingly accommodate for any sort of infra development. In fact, it's quite an achievement that land acquisition is almost complete for NH 66. But on the plus side, at least where I used to live, they were building quite a lot of flyovers (North Kerala). But not really that easy doing this across Kerala.

[RaceCyborg]

Honestly, a part of me is happy at the speed limits being raised but at the same time can't help but get worried as the lack of lane discipline is sure to bring problems if one wants to go at these speeds.

I myself try to maintain 80 but can't do that consistently because of fast lane hoggers and lane cutters . Also there are folks who drive slow, when they arrive at a red signal, will attempt to get through to the front using any space available including the lane reserved for turning right. Once they get ahead, they continue at a snail's pace far below the speed limit and force other drivers to overtake them again.

Increasing speed limits are fine but please don't do it for gaining public support. Without appropriate measures taken to ensure lane discipline, this is just asking for more accidents.

I encourage fellow Keralites to not blindly follow the new speed limits and use extreme caution.

PS: I don't have any political inclinations in this case and these are my honest thoughts.

[Amukherjea]

Interestingly when I was driving around in New Zealand saw this speed limit changes while passing thru a populated area handled very well.
As you approach a spot there is board saying reduce speed 70 limit ahead. As you cross the 70 board says slow down 50km limit ahead. Same thing down to 30 in some really narrow stretches. What was good was one does not have to really brake to slow. I just used to take off my foot from accelerator and the car would slow more or less to the desired speed.
Also there were radar gun speed read out below the speed limit signs.
Like you have on the Maa flyover in Kolkata.
Made driving easy without tension.
As soon as the area got over large board said speed limit over.
Somebody should retink the roadside signage.
Is fines collection more important than making people follow the rules??

[Axe77]

Feel bad for superbike riders in KL. I feel for bikes over 300 cc, they should allow for the same speed limits as cars.

[Senotrius]

Forget superbikes. Even 150cc+ bikes have it hard with the new rule. Maintaining a steady 80-90kph is easily possible with 2 wheelers compared to 4 wheelers on the NH here. Never been fined till now on highways for those speeds but the advent of 'AI' camera to identify bike speeds specifically worry me.