Cops book 13K for speed norm bypass
Commuters claim speed limits are too low
Motorists are ending up paying a hefty amount for speeding on city roads and flyovers where the speed has been limited to 40-60 kmph. As many as 13,000 violations were reported in
2020 for over-speeding in Hyderabad city alone, with
47,000 cases in 2019. Hyderabad traffic police said they booked around 6075 cases of over-speeding on Tank Bund per day, where the speed limit is 40 kmph. “We have speed guns installed there and we regularly book over-speeding cases as people drive at high speed. We booked around
100 cases per day during the pandemic as roads were emptier than usual,” said an official from the city traffic police, adding that even cops and politicians were not spared.
Commuters claim that the speed limits are too low and are often overlooked. “I travel every day on Tank Bund and never bothered to follow the speed limit, to be honest. We know the traffic as regular commuters and make sure we ride accordingly. If you think going at
60 kmph on an average on a road like the Tank Bund stretch is over-speeding, I don’t know what kind of flawed laws we have here,” said Anurag Sharma, a software engineer from Secunderabad.
Rakesh Kumar, an activist, said that the speed limits needed to be revised in many areas. “Motorists cannot be paying `1,000 fine with such low speed limits. I know places around Alwal which have a 20 kmph speed limit where barely any traffic flows. This is nothing but
a money making business where we are fined for going at a decent speed in general terms,” he said.
Sandeep Shandilya, the ADG of railways and road safety, said the research and development team had conducted a survey and noticed the traffic flow in a 24-hour window to ascertain speed limits.
“They gauge the volume of traffic and fix speed limits. We cannot have different limits for day and night just because the roads are emptier. The grade separation is done after a thorough research and keeping in mind how and when pedestrians cross and traffic levels. The limits are so low as we do not have access control over such busy roads and accidents should be avoided,” said the official.
Meanwhile, Dr Kamal Soi, a member of National Road
Safety Council, ministry of road transport and highways, said it was a question of life and death.
“Safe speed saves lives is what I always say. I think 40 kmph is a reasonable speed on city roads and people should know that overspeeding on a flyover rather than on a normal road is dangerous. The manoeuvering has to be in a meticulous way as during accidents on flyovers, we might lose the three Rs - reaction, rescue and recovery. Though the speed limit says 40 kmph, officials provide a 10 per cent waiver, wherein even if you hit a 45, you will not be fined.
Moreover, travelling on a highway to 300 kilometres distance in a day can be done with max 70-80 kmph speed on an average. Such speed limits are good for road safety,” he concluded.