[kovilkalai]

I don't think we should raise speed limits. 140 kmph is entirely too fast for many drivers to effectively control their cars. What needs to happen though is establishing VISIBLE signage in places where speed limits change. A lot of times, we don't see the small circular sign in one corner of the road. In the US, in places where the speed limit changes, there are huge banners with yellow lights that warn people.

[2000rpm]

Originally Posted by msdivy

Instead of top speed, shouldn't the focus be on *average* speed?

Increasing Top Speed is one way to increase average speed, isnt it??

[Shreyans_Jain]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Increasing Top Speed is one way to increase average speed, isnt it??

Increasing top speed is a bit of a bogey. As it is, an overwhelming majority of our cars have neither the performance nor the dynamics to maintain 3 digit speed continuously. This is more so on concrete highways which tend to be bumpier. The best driving road around Delhi is the peripheral highway and it has a speed limit of 120. It takes the kind of performance and suspension wizardry my Hexa and Compass have to genuinely maintain 110-120 continuously and safely over 100+kms. My City and Jazz simply don’t have the power, don’t have the stability. You can obviously drive fast but you will be extending yourself and the car. You can’t maintain it for long without compromising safety. We need better cars for the kind of highways we are now building.

Originally Posted by msdivy

Instead of top speed, shouldn't the focus be on *average* speed?

Very valid point. I personally feel that a speed limit of 120kmph is good enough. What we need to ensure is a minimum speed limit to go with it, say, 80kmph.

[rr_zen]

Originally Posted by aargee

Instead of this, I would be still happy with existing or even foregoing another 20 Kmph capped 80 Kmph limit...PROVIDED

• The jaywalkers are confiscated
• The cattle are impounded, stray dogs impelled
• Accidents are fairly, swiftly & justly tended
• Careless two-wheelers (not limited to) are educated
• Lane discipline & speed limit is enforced, road rage is controlled
• Obnoxious parking are fined
• RTO & Inspector traced to be accounted for mishaps

Originally Posted by Car's Paradise

No point in revising the speed limits on our national highways by Govt. IMO, as the existing speed limits are barely followed by all the class of vehicles be it 2 wheelers, 4 wheelers, trucks and buses. Above it, proper monitoring system to check vehicles abiding to the existing speeds limits are not in place everywhere.

Much needed move by NHAI is to regulate and monitor the lane discipline followed on our national highways. Its a pain to drive on highways now, as trucks fills up all the lanes overtaking each other at crawling speeds, which compels driving a car driver to drive in a zig zag way cutting lanes, which IMO is unsafe and also very tiring for long distance journeys. The rule for lane driving as per vehicle class is already defined by NHAI but monitoring of the same is not done which I feel should be implemented to make highway journeys more safe and quicker.

I really appreciate the infrastructural development being done by NHAI and Gadkari Ji but IMHO lane discipline monitoring should be implemented taking into first priority rather then setting up new speed limits.

Cant agree more with the above posts. There is a strong need to go back and get the basics right first before attempting to revise the speed limits. If fundamental things such as obeying traffic lights and stop lines cannot be followed/enforced, are we progressing in the right direction ?

[anjan_c2007]

Its like giving a licence to the indisciplined drivers to kill ! With the innumerable accidents on expressways every day and the lackadaiscal law enforcements, despite the availablity of 'state of the art' devices to check overspeeding and rash driving, the speed demons will now be free from shackles with such a rise in the upper speed limit.

For disciplined drivers, whatever the speed limit, they will always drive safe. And teambhpians come what may, will always abide by this catchline "LIVE TO DRIVE."

Moreover, for optimum fuel consumption every engine has its delineated speed range. For a majority of the cars that are used in India today, at speeds above 80-90 kmph, the fuel consumption crosses over to "high", moving to higher levels commensurate with the increase in speed in the three figure range.

And the same Transport Ministry talks about reducing the drain of precious foreign exchange aiming at reducing the oil imports that stand at 82 % today, while we produce only 18 % of our requirement. They also talk about EV's. India is the third largest importer of oil in the world.

[goandude]

IMO any speed above 100 kmph in our country is fraught with danger. Human and animal incursions being a major issue.

Fuel consumption to goes south above 100. And in most modern cars a continuous chime sounds beyond 120 kmph.

But yes uniformity in speed limits, high visibility signage and removal of random barricades and /or speed breakers are some of the most important requirements. Some of the signs on our highways have font size so small, it's like a vision test

[gotoguru]

Most of the cars today are capable of doing speeds in excess of 20kmph than the stated speed. But what I feel is, when you travel by a decent sedan or SUV at 100kmph on a highway rated 100kmph on a cruise mode, you will not feel the tiredness of travel. However if 120kmph is done on the same highway, there seems to be bounciness in the travel.
Does the road infrastructure also needs to be changed or improved before increasing the speed limits?

[Gansan]

Speed limit on NHs is there only on the board. When I drive outstation I seem to be the only person doing 80-90 kph, every other car is doing 120+. The amendment will merely ratify what is already being practiced.

[B_Pranav]

Originally Posted by goandude

IMO any speed above 100 kmph in our country is fraught with danger. Human and animal incursions being a major issue.

I completely agree. There is so much chaos on our roads that it's very unsafe to do a 100 or more. So many times when I drive on the highway I spot people walking across the highway, cows sitting on them, autos taking u-turns, scooters (and even cars) riding in the wrong direction and so many other perils. Couple this with towns along the road, junctions on the highway and illegal (read: broken median) u-turns, our roads aren't safe for high speed traversal.

Until and unless it's safe to do the current speeds on our roads without having to worry about these problems, I don't see much merit in increasing the speed limit.

[DicKy]

Great move.

Give roads the speed limits they deserve. Making a world class expressway like road and then keeping the speed limit to 80km/h is just regressive.

And more than speed limits, it is the varying speed limits that's the main problem. If you get on a class of road, you should be able to guess the speed limit even if signs are not there. Here, speed limits vary within a distance of just a few metres and it is a result of lack of planning. They don't go into the root cause of why a stretch is dangerous. They just put a ridiculous school zone speed limit on a dual carriageway road.

Ofcourse limits should vary with local conditions. For Kerala highways 80km/h is the perfect speed limit. For newer roads that are access controlled(have side barricades) it can be 100-110km/h.

[msdivy]

Originally Posted by 2000rpm

Increasing Top Speed is one way to increase average speed, isnt it??

On a good 500m stretch, any vehicle can hit 120 Kmph. But how long can it stay there? Considering our roads with speed bumps, divider opens, people/cattle on roads, villages/towns limits, the speed limit can be hit only in stretches. In my experience, with driving at 120 Kmph, the average speed for the journey is 50 to 60 Kmph on normal highways and 80Kmph on deserted highways. If they remove the hindrances, the average speed will improve.

Originally Posted by Shreyans_Jain

Very valid point. I personally feel that a speed limit of 120kmph is good enough. What we need to ensure is a minimum speed limit to go with it, say, 80kmph.

That is a good idea. Minimum speed can be enforced for 2 fast lanes on a 3 lane highway.

[greyhound82]

Originally Posted by DicKy

Great move.
Ofcourse limits should vary with local conditions. For Kerala highways 80km/h is the perfect speed limit. For newer roads that are access controlled(have side barricades) it can be 100-110km/h.

In Kerala the variation is too abrupt . The squad will wait at the downhill with a speed gun to make sure that they can issue enough challans . It’s really a nightmare to drive around in Kerala without knowing the camera installations especially in Trivandrum. I think MC road has less speed cameras compared to Trivandrum -Kollam- Alapuzha - Ekm highway

[nagr22]

While I admire the man and his work ethics, I disagree with this move. Instead of speed limit if he asks his officials to increase the 'average speed' on our highways by 20kph, I would wholeheartedly support it.
If you think about it, most stretches of our national highways and expressways already are good enough to achieve 100 kph average speed while they are empty. It is due to few badly designed curves, signals/intersections/pedestrian crossings in the middle of highway, slow moving vehicles, unruly vehicles,toll booths etc, is what causes our average speeds to drop. I have so far not managed to cross average speed of 60kph even when I drive at 120kph whenever possible. Increasing the speed limit from 100kph to 120 kph is not going to change this one bit.

[Rachit.K.Dogra]

This is indeed good news!! More than Speed Limits on our highways, I am more interested in the speed limits in City. Delhi and Gurgaon have some decent road infrastructure but dismal speed limits especially for 2 wheelers. No modern car or bike will cruise happily at 50-60 KM/PH.
I understand the reduced speed limits in accident prone areas or around schools and that is totally fine. But the bigger, major roads of the city need to have higher speed limits. 1 reason why 90% of people don't follow speed limits in India is because its just not feasible and they are not well chosen for the road.

PS: Delhi reduced the speed limits further recently by 10 KMPH on many of its main city roads, citing that it will reduce accidental deaths. I don't buy this. It just seems another income source for the government and the traffic police.

Rachit

[landcruiser123]

A welcome move, if implemented well. However, I'm not in favor of changing the existing 100 & 120 km/h should be changed.

Originally Posted by Kosfactor

Imagine the things you can do if you can cover 500kms in 5 hours instead of 10 hours. It's going to be the fastest mode of transportation.

For the scenario you mentioned, it is not due to low-speed limits, but more due to the road quality, traffic, and a high number of intersections. Bangalore-Chennai (~360km) always took 5-7 hours (excluding breaks) because the road & traffic conditions didn't allow me to maintain a 90km/h and complete journey in 4 hours.