In a move that comes as puzzling to many, the Centre has decided to increase the speed limit on expressways to 120 kilometres per hour (kmph) from the earlier 100 kmph. The announcement was made by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways headed by Nitin Gadkari.
To add to this, the speed limit on national highways has been upped to 100 kmph from the erstwhile 80 kmph. The maximum speed with which one can travel on urban roads is that of 70 kmph.
These new stipulations are for the M1 category vehicles that include vehicles with not more than eight seats – which means most cars and SUVs fall under this category.
There are separate regulations for taxis/cabs as the maximum speed limit for these vehicles on expressways has been increased to 100 kmph from the earlier 80 kmph. Also, the speed limit for two-wheelers on expressways now goes up to 80 kmph from the erstwhile 60 kmph.
On city roads, privately owned cars and taxis have a similar speed limit of 70 kmph. The speed limit for two-wheelers on city roads has been increased by 20 kmph to 60 kmph.
Vehicles in the M2 and M3 categories, primarily commercial and passenger cargo vehicles will adhere to speed limits of 100 kmph on the expressways, 90 kmph on the highways and 60 kmph within city limits, according to the announcement.
There are important aspects pertaining to the above stipulations that commuters need to understand.
First, these speed regulations are only applicable to certain sections of the expressways and highways.
The speed restrictions on the curves and accident prone sections remain unchanged.
Second, there is no change in area-specific speed limits enforced by the state agencies on roads and highways passing through towns and villages.
If one thinks about it, it is hard to understand why the speed limits have been increased. There are hardly a handful of people who actually follow the speed limit on open roads and expressways.
The only apparent benefit for the drivers/riders is that now they’d have a window of at least 10-20 kmph to avoid penalties and fines! The law allows for a 5 percent margin of error on speed limits, so technically, you could do 126 kmph in a 120 kmph zone.
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