With more and more powerful cars and bikes in the market, overspeeding has become a menace, especially with the growing road infrastructure in the country with new highways and expressways. This has caused several fatal accidents in recent years.
Although speed limits in expressways have been increased significantly, it doesn’t stop people from driving well beyond legal speed limits. To bring a curb on this, Karnataka has made a welcome move. From now onwards, anyone caught overspeeding will have to face legal consequences apart from monetary fines.
In a bid to enhance road discipline and reduce fatal accidents caused by reckless driving, the Karnataka police will begin registering FIRs against drivers exceeding the 130 kmph speed limit from August 1. On national highways, the limit has been set at 105 kmph. Offenders will face penalties, including imprisonment up to six months, a fine of Rs 1,000, or both.
According to Alok Kumar, ADGP, Training, Traffic, and Road Safety, speeding is responsible for a staggering 90% of fatal accidents. Notably, an average of 50 vehicles, including state transport buses, are recorded violating the speed limit on the Bengaluru-Mysuru access-controlled highway daily, prompting concern.
To address this, district police have been instructed to rigorously monitor vehicle speeds and take stern action against those exceeding the permissible limit. This initiative is the latest in a series of measures undertaken by the police, including recent FIRs against drivers for using LED headlights and violating one-way rules, in collaboration with the traffic and road safety department.
The new overspeeding regulations will be applicable to all roads in Karnataka, and not just highways and expressways. ADGP Traffic and Road Safety Alok Kumar, told PTI that CCTV footage on the highway shows a noticeable rise in speeding. He further informed that the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway now has laser guns and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed to record and monitor speed levels of every vehicle plying on the highway.
Currently speed limits of national highways all across the country have been uniformly set at 100 kmph whereas state highways generally have a lower speed limit. On expressways, the maximum permissible speed is 120 kmph.
(With inputs from PTI)