Delhi yet to make speed governors mandatory

NEW DELHI: Despite a central government notification making speed governors mandatory on buses, trucks and other commercial vehicles from October 1, the Delhi transport department is silent on the matter. "The deadline for vehicles that are registered before October 1, 2015, and which don't have speed governors is April 2016. The state government is working on getting the notification out before that," said a senior government official.
The mandatory speed governor proviso comes in the wake of a rising number of accidents in the country due to speeding. Rajesh Ravi of Suraksha Foundation, an NGO that has been working on road accidents and related issues, said, "A report titled 'Accident deaths & suicides in India 2014' by the National Crime Records Bureau says 36.8% of accidents were caused due to overspeeding."
According to Ravi, the government's decision to curb speeding vehicles through speed governors could have an immediate impact on the accident data of the country. "People need to be made aware of this new rule in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, and the state government needs to start implementation," said Ravi.
In 2010, when the Delhi government had introduced the low-floor buses, these had been delivered with built-in speed governors. However, officials from DTC, which runs around 3,000 low-floor and semi-low floor buses, admit that most of the buses don't have functional speed governors. "The devices have been tampered with, much like the GPS had been," said a senior official. A majority of the commercial vehicles plying in Delhi don't have speed governors at present.
According to the Centre's notification, all new transport vehicles such as trucks, buses, dumpers and mini buses will need to install speed governors to limit their speed to 80kmph. The existing vehicles will need to install these speed limit devices by April 1. The notification clarifies that the speed-limiting devices will be installed in all commercial vehicles. In the case of school buses, dumpers and vehicles carrying hazardous goods, the maximum speed will be 60kmph.
Vehicles used by police, fire department, ambulances and those having eight passenger seats (excluding the driver) don't need to have speed governors.
The ministry had notified that the speed governors have to be installed either at the manufacturing level or at the level of dealers. For existing vehicles that need retrofitting to fix these devices, state governments will come out with necessary notification.