Guwahati: After rigorous debates and condemnations against the State road transport department for imposing fines on vehicles running above the prescribed speed limit on national highways, besides the State maintained roads, the Assam government in Dispur now bats for a maximum 60-kilo meter per hour move.
The transport department argued that more motor vehicle accidents and also fatalities & injuries were reported in 2019 (8250 accidents, 3207 casualties), in 2020 (6593 incidents, 2629 deaths) and in 2021 (4328 occasions, 1789 fatalities till 31 July). It also claimed that overspeeding was the major cause of road accidents and casualties.
Accordingly, the department engaged its manpower of different districts to catch the vehicles moving beyond the permissible speed limit on highways with the help of interceptor vehicles and levied a penalty of rupees 2,000 (up to 4,000) under section 183 of the motor vehicle act. It restricted the maximum speed limit below 50 kmph.
Expressing utter dismay with the transport officials for imposing penalties without any clarity against the high-speed vehicles on the four-lane national highways, All Assam Engineer’s Association (AAEA) termed the ‘fine collection practice to convert the public-service department into a revenue-generating division ‘in the name of initiatives to diminish road accidents and fatalities.
The forum in a media statement claimed that under the national criteria, a private vehicle is allowed to move with 100 kmph on highways and up to 120 kmph on expressways. The speed limit for bike riders on highways & expressways has been fixed on 80 kmph and for heavy vehicles like buses, trucks, etc it is permitted up to 100 kmph. It also referred to Union road transport & highways minister Nitin Gadkari’s recent arguments that the maximum speed limits should be increased by 20 kmph on multi-lane roads as India has lately improved the quality of highways.
“As Assam has been penalising the high-speed drivers, should one assume that the quality of four-lane highways inside the State is not up to the mark ! If that is true, why the travellers are being forced to pay money in all the toll-gates here?” questioned the forum of graduate engineers, adding that the automobile science narrates that if a vehicle is driven in a relatively lower speed, it consumes more fossil fuel every minute (meaning more deposits of carbon and carbon-mono-oxide in the air).
“The most fuel-efficient speed is prescribed as around 80 kmph for the light motor vehicles. It also depends on proper tire-pressure, aero-dynamism, driver’s skill (not to use brakes unnecessarily and accelerate suddenly),” stated AAEA president Er Kailash Sarma, working president Er Nava J. Thakuria and secretary Er Inamul Hye, finally urging State transport minister Chandra Mohan Patowary to look into the matter seriously.
Lately, however State chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma suggested minister Patowary to revise the speed limits up to 60 kmph and also advised the department officials not to impose fines on the first violation. He clarified that the speed limit on highways is decided by the NHAI, which may go up to 100 kmph, and it was enforced only on some parts of highways, which are under the State jurisdiction.
