Do not increase speed limit of vehicles, NGO tells Union min

Stating that high speed is the main reason behind most road accidents, a non-profit body has urged the government to not get pressured by automobile lobbies into increasing speed limit of vehicles.

Kamal Soi, chairman of Raahat - the safe community foundation, urged the government to not remove speed governors from vehicles as he said such a move could lead to "road terrorism".

Noting that India does not have homogeneous traffic, Soi, a member of the National Road Safety Council, said increase of speed limit would not improve traffic movement as the number of vehicles in the country are very high.

"Developed countries have homogenous traffic due to which they can afford to increase speed limit but even they are adding speed governors to their vehicles. We need to learn from them," he said.

"I request Union Minister Nithin Gadkari to not get influenced by automobile lobbies as speed is the biggest killer in road accidents," the former vice-chairman of Punjab State Road Safety Council said.

He was reacting to recent reports of union government planning to revoke the mandatory requirement of speed governors from commercial vehicles, which was imposed last year.