New speed limits in Delhi for all vehicles

Private cars and cabs can cruise at speeds of 60kmph on most of the Ring Road and Outer Ring Road, and 70kmph on most highways, the Delhi Traffic Police said on Friday, simplifying complicated and often confusing speed limits that varied frequently on the same stretch.

This is the first significant overhaul in the city’s speed limits since 2011, and comes at a time when the police have stepped up enforcement by installing a wide network of speed traps across the city. Speeding fines have jumped from 2.7 million in 2019 to over 8 million in 2020.

“There have been a number of changes/improvements in the road infrastructure in the city in past few years like construction of flyovers/underpasses, high speed/signal free corridors as well as improvement in vehicle technology. Further, there was a need to make speed limits uniform on Delhi roads as far as possible. Therefore, revision of the existing speed limits was felt necessary on Delhi roads,” said a statement from Meenu Choudhary, the joint commissioner of police, traffic operations.

This year, till June 1, over 1.5 million such fines have been issued.

Largely, the Capital will con

tinue to remain a 50kmph zone on main roads, while residential areas will be a 30kmph zone. But the key changes are in some roads that have been widened or made signal-free in recent years – the limit on the Delhi-noida link road and the Barapullah Road, for instance, has been raised from 50kmph to 60kmph.

Most of the Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road too will be a 60kmph zone (except for a few specified stretches that are narrower or cut close to residential

areas).

For the first time, the notification separately lays down limits for two-wheelers. People riding them will largely need to adhere to the same limits as private cars, but in no stretch can they exceed 60kmph (including in stretches where cars are allowed to go up to 70kmph).

Vehicles such as autorickshaws, which are used for public transport, can go up to a maximum of 40kmph.

The Delhi Police also set a

tolerance limit of 5%, which means only those doing 53kmph in a 50kmph zone will get a fine. The new limits were notified in the Gazette dated June 8, which was released on Friday, putting the changes into effect immediately.

Choudhary said the decision to revise the speed limits was taken based on recommendations of speed review committee, comprising senior transport officials, enforcement agencies, and transport and

road safety experts.

In 2011, when the last major changes took place, the limits on some roads, such as National Highway-8 (from Gurgaon Road crossing to Delhi Gurgaon Border) and the Delhinoida-direct Flyway-mayur Vihar Link Road, were reduced from 80kmph to 70kmph. In 2017 and in 2019, minor adjustments were made, but those affected only a limited number of roads and not the city entirely.

“The basic rule that we have followed while revising the speed limits this time is to ensure that there is a seamless and safe transfer of speed limits. For instance, the speeds on the expressways and highspeed corridors have been set at 70kmph, from there when you enter onto highways that are crossing urban areas the speed is being reduced to 60kmph and then to 50kmph on arterial city roads. The speed on internal roads has been set at 30kmph,” said Sewa Ram, professor of transport planning at the School of Planning and Architecture, who is on the speed review committee.

Experts said commuters can now expect a more consistent speed limit. Some of the stretches where this will apply are among the busiest: almost the entirety of the Ring Road except for a portion in North Delhi as well the most of the Outer Ring Road will now be in the 60kmph zone.

“Earlier, there were sections where drivers were suddenly switching from 70kmph to 50kmph as soon as they entered city roads. This sudden change in speed was dangerous,” added Ram.

The stretch from the DND flyover to the Mayur Vihar Link Road has been set at 70kmph, which is also the limit for NH-48 (from Parade Road to Delhi-gurugram Border), NH-44 (from Singhu Border to Sanjay Gandhi Transport Nagar), NH-9 (from Millennium Park to Ghazipur Border) and the Noida Toll Road (DND).

Main roads between the Ring Road and the Outer Ring Road and other similarly sized stretches will be in the 50 kmph zone while flyover exit and entry loops, wherever present, will be in a 40kmph zone.

Ram said that in the past, several roads were left out and the speeds were set in silos.

Senior traffic police officials welcomed the setting of limits for two-wheelers in Delhi. Till now, the traffic police have been issuing tickets to speeding two-wheeler riders based on the limits set for private cars, but since the category was undefined, the fines lapsed when challenged in court.

“We were getting many appeals in case of court challans that none of the signage mentions what is the speed limit for two-wheelers, which gave violators an excuse to not pay fines. By clearly stating the speed limits, we can now hold two-wheeler riders responsible,” a senior traffic official said on condition of anonymity.

Delhi government data shows that the city had over 10 million registered vehicles, out of which 7.3 million are twowheelers.