Indian Highway Speed Limit Needs To Be Revised, Says Minister Gadkari

The idea of increasing the Indian highway speed limit might be deemed as a contentious subject, but Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has come out in support of it.

Speaking at the Way to Vision Zero road safety virtual conference, Gadkari criticised some of the surprisingly low speed limits on multi-lane roads in the country.

He said it is unfortunate that drivers are penalised for breaching speed limit of a mere 40 km/hr on multi-lane roads.

As per a study titled Mobility and Congestion in Urban India (conducted across 154 cities in the country), the average speed of vehicles inside Indian cities is normally around 35 km/hr, one of the slowest in the world.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said he has already discussed the issue with officials and added that considering the new roads being built in the country, speed norms need to be revised.

Further, the minister noted that road engineering and road design are among many reasons behind high accident rates in India. He said his ministry has identified and removed 1000 black spots to improve road conditions.

Gadkari also assured that the Central government will help States to develop and maintain highways.

As mentioned above, discussing upward revision of Indian highway speed limit is controversial, especially with the number of road fatalities reported in India every year.

Studies suggest that lowering speed limits help reduce fatalities but some point out that it also increases speed limit violations.

A higher highway speed limit will reduce travel times and will help the economy grow as well, but might also increase the number of accidents and as a consequence, the risk of fatalities.