Nitin Gadkari Points Out that Speed Limits for Highways and Expressways Will Increase

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has indicated that the speed limit on national highways and expressways in India may increase as recently the government has laid an improved network of highways and high-speed expressways, which can cope with higher speeds than what is presently sanctioned. The increased speed limit may apply because maintaining a lower speed limit on such roads can, on the contrary, create issues for commuters. The Centre is already in discussion about the speed limit new laws with different states, and Gadkari’s comment came soon afterwards.

But there are no promises till now as to when a consensus will be reached and the speed limits updated. Light vehicles like cars can run at a maximum speed of up to 120 Kmph on some of the expressways in the country. For instance, the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressways and Delhi-Mumbai Expressway are the ones where a speed limit of up to 120 Kmph is allowed. However, the speed limit for other national highways is up to 100 Kmph only, and at some places, even lower.

The speed limit that is put in place currently came in after notification in 2018. Nitin Gadkari, who heads the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is the one who sets the speed limits. And the primary motto is to improve efficiency and safety on every road network in India, which will automatically mean better highways and expressways, and a hiked speed limit is just a part and parcel of this process.

But to renew the speed limits, the Centre has to have support from all the states, who are in the end, going to take the final decision on the speed limit for the road network through their border. The new speed limit will be based on the type of road. Thus, the speed allowed will depend on whether it is an 8-lane, control highway, 6-lane, 4-lane, or 2-lane highway. Before finalizing the speed limit update, the Centre is prepared to take this matter with respective states.

As per Gadkari, the situation is such that the speed limits have not changed despite the highways being good. Thus, he will be calling the transport ministers from different states and talking with them about setting an enhanced speed limit so that people can get relief. However, in the last few years, over-speeding has led to several accidents on Indian roads. Even though speed cameras, CCTV, and security arrangements are in place, commuters often break the speed limit on highways and expressways.

The ministry has also released a report wherein it was said that more than two-thirds of road accident victims in 2021 died because of over-speeding. In 2021 itself, there were about 3 lakh road accidents, which occurred due to people crossing the speed limit, which proved fatal for 1.07 lakh people. Before Covid restrictions were placed in 2019, around 71% of the total 4.49 lakhs of road accidents in India happened because of going beyond the set speed limit.