The Regional Transport Officers (RTOs) of Madurai, Dindigul, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar and Sivaganga had jointly conducted an exhibition here on Saturday on demonstrating the functioning of ‘speed governors’ which have to be installed compulsorily in vehicles owned by educational institutions as per a Government Order issued on June 10.
The governors restrict the top speed of the vehicles to 50 kilometres per hour by controlling the fuel supply to the engine. Sold by private agencies, they were priced around Rs.11,500. New vehicles of educational institutions would be registered only if the governors had been fitted in them. However, the Government had given time till December 9 to fit the governors in old vehicles.
The equipment would be sealed electronically by the manufacturer as well as manually by the RTOs in order to prevent tampering. Drivers would not be able to speed the vehicles beyond 50 km per hour however hard they press the accelerator. The institutions have been ordered to print the information ‘Speed Governor Installed’ in both English and Tamil at the bottom of the front and rear windscreens in white letters.
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According to the RTOs, the equipment would be installed in nearly 3,000 vehicles owned by around 1,400 educational institutions in the six districts. Representatives of many such institutions had been invited to the exhibition held at the RTO office, Madurai (south). Four private agencies had put up their stalls to show live demonstration of their products besides listing out the benefits.
Speaking on the occasion, J. Rajendran, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Madurai, asked the people to assist the police in ensuring a safe and happy journey on road. He said that any one could ring up ‘100’ and pass on information such as overloading of auto rickshaws, rash driving and other such offences. He also invited suggestions on regulating the traffic in congested areas.
In his address, Madurai Superintendent of Police M. Manohar said that people tend to ignore the road safety rules and hence the police had to constantly educate them on the subject. Stating that the police department does not take pride in registering more number of cases for traffic offences, he said that it would be better if people cooperated in enforcing road safety rules without undergoing punishment.
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F.S. Rodrigo, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Virudhunagar Circle, said that young men tend to drive fast on the roads. Hence, he asked educational institutions to employ drivers aged around 40 years and to make sure that they had an experience of over 10 years. Vehicles must be maintained in good condition and they should not be overloaded, he stressed.
He also insisted on equipping the vehicles with first aid boxes and fire extinguishers. He suggested that the institutions could increase the fleet of their vehicles or the number of trips made by them in order to avoid overloading. It was not necessary for school buses to speed on the roads because most of the children live within a radius of 30 kilometres.
P. Kumarasamy, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Madurai Circle, participated. K. Selvakumar, RTO, Virudhunagar and Madurai (South), pointed out that fours Es — Engineering, Education, Enforcement and Emergency relief — were vital for road safety. He said that the police as well as the transport department were involved in all these activities in order to ensure safe travel.