Increasing India’s national highway speed limit could shorten travel time by a noticeable margin
Soon, the national highway speed limit in India could be increased by 20 km/hr as Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari wants to raise the speed at which vehicles travel on expressways.
Recently, the minister held a meeting with the officials of the Road Transport Ministry and reviewed speed limits enforced on India’s highways.
In a tweet, Gadkari said, “Reviewed speed limits of vehicles on Roads and National Highways with reference of design speed and provisions in Motor Vehicle Act in the presence of officials of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.”
As things stand, the maximum speed limit for vehicles falling under M1 category on national highways is 100 km/hr (4-lane roads with a median) and on expressways is 120 km/hr.
The Union Minister has also directed officials to ensure that uniform speed limits are being enforced on certain stretches and disallow frequent changes to the speed limits. This applies to even short stretches.
While the Union Ministry notifies speed limits, State police and other agencies can change the notified speed limit on roads that fall under their jurisdiction.
These differing speed limits (from State to State) and inadequate number of signs that display the allowed speed limit has compounded India’s road safety problem.
