State violating rule on speed governors, says expert

‘As a consequence, there is spurt in accidents and fatalities’

National Road Safety Committee member Kamal Soi addressing the media in Vijayawada.

National Road Safety Committee (NSRC) member Kamal Soi has said that Andhra Pradesh is lagging behind other States in fitting commercial vehicles with Speed Limiting Devices (SLD), or speed governors, as per the guidelines of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) and directions of a Supreme Court panel.

It is due to the corrupt practices that the SLD rule is not being implemented, as a consequence of which there has been a spurt in the number of accidents and fatalities, he has stated.

Over-speeding

The SLD are supposed to cap the speed of the vehicles at 80 km per hour.

Addressing the media here on Friday, Mr. Soi said that AP had a very high rate of accidents in 2015 at 24,258, which resulted in the death of 8,297 persons and injuries to 29,439. Over-speeding was reported to be the main reason, accounting for 40% to 50 % of the accidents.

Many vehicles were either not equipped with the SLD or had devices that were substandard.

Nevertheless, due to the ignorance of guidelines, vehicles with such unapproved devices were being passed and given fitness certificates in blatant violation of the rules framed by the MoRTH and the directions of Supreme Court committee.

Mr. Soi said it was stipulated that the SLD should conform to the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) requirements and the same had to be integrated with the MoRTH’s ‘Vahan’ database along with the proof of EMC approvals and serial numbers of the SLD.

Certification

The SLD could be certified by any one of the following agencies: Automotive Research Association of India, Central Institute of Road Technology, International Centre for Automotive Technology, and Vehicle Research and Development Establishment. The Transport Department did not issue any directives for compliance with the Central Government’s notification dated May 1, 2017, for the fitment of SLD in all commercial vehicles under M-1 category as per the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, the NSRC member said, and demanded remedial action at the earliest to bring down the number of accidents.