Terming deaths in accidents a “psycho socio-economic issue”, a non-government organisation working for the cause of road safety argued against allowing an increase in existing speed limit of vehicles.
It urged Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari not to accede to demands by “automobile lobbies”.
Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, international road safety and sustainable transport expert Kamal Soi urged Mr. Gadkari to rollback his current stand on removing speed governors from commercial vehicles .
“I request Mr. Gadkari to not be influenced by any automobile lobby,” Mr. Soi said.
The chairman of Raahat Foundation cautioned the Minister against removing speed governors from vehicles as such a move could lead to “road terrorism”.
Mr. Soi, who has served as vice-chairman of the Punjab State Road Safety Council, blamed the factors related to drivers of heavy commercial vehicles as a threat to road safety. He said he was reacting to reports that the Centre was planning to revoke the mandatory requirement of speed governors from commercial vehicles, which was imposed in 2017.
Economic losses
“Approximately, 90% of the drivers remain under some kind of intoxication which increases the probability of accidents. As a result, speed governors are necessary and can reduce the accidents by over 50%,” he said.
In a presentation, data was released stating that a staggering amount of ₹1.75 crore or about 3% of the GDP, led to economic losses owing to road accidents.
Delhi Taxi Tourists Transporters Association president Sanjay Samrat said the compulsory installation of speed governors being limited to the segment of commercial vehicles seemed to be a ploy to “harass the common taxi driver”.
Road safety
“Why are not vehicles of Ministers and bureaucrats being installed with these devices? Road accidents are not only attributed to commercial vehicles, but private transport as well,” he said.
Commenting further on the safety of road passengers, Mr. Samrat argued, he said, “Indian roads, specially highways, are not well protected but is laden with cases of robbery and car mugging. Hence, sometimes in interest of the safety of passenger we have to speed up on highways. Government and NGOs must understand that speed governors can be life-threatening at such instances.”
Roshan Kumar Sahu, a scholar with IIT-Bombay who has worked on integration of such devices with technology, said, “There are ways to integrate the speed governors to function with the inbuilt GPS of a vehicle. This will offer the flexibility to a driver to speed up at smooth areas and limit the speed at rough patches. This can be a win-win situation for government, NGOs and vehicle drivers.”
