Hyderabad: Speed limit signboard turns bane for motorists

Hyderabad: The speed limit on the stretch at ISB road has become irksome for motorists as they complain that the speed limit should be 40 kmph, but the signboard is of 30 kmph and the motorists are fined if they exceed the speed limit.

An IT professional, on condition of anonymity, said that he travels through the street every day for his office, but is very much annoyed over the speed limit signboard installed on the ISB stretch.

He noted, "I had to face lot of difficulty with the signboard because I have received couple of challans for over speeding, though I always travel at a speed of 40 KMPH. As I was regularly getting the challan receipts, I thought of doing recce of the entire street and figure out the point where I am over speeding. To my astonishment I found that on a particular point at the ISB stretch there is a signboard which signifies the speed limit to be 30 KMPH and there is a cop deputed at that point with a laser gun to monitor the speed of the motorists."

"When I asked the cop about the speed limit, he said that any vehicle passing on this street shall not travel at a speed more than 30 KMPH. Though I informed him that it is a smooth and long road and according to the government of India the speed limit should be 40 KMPH on such roads, the cop said that he was just doing his duty," added the techie.

He further stated, "I have brought this issue before the authorities through social media but did not get any response. If such a thing keeps on happening, then any motorist travelling on the stretch will be fined despite it being a long and smooth road."

An officer from the traffic department on condition of anonymity said that, if anyone is having an issue with the signboards then they should immediately bring it to the notice of the traffic department of the respective jurisdiction so that the matter can be solved at the earliest.

He noted, "We are always working as per the guidelines issued by the government and while setting up the speed limits we collect information on proposed speed limits by the engineering wings of all departments and hand it over to the transport department as they later install the signboards accordingly."

However the Union Ministry of road transport and highways in April 2018 had fixed the speed limits and specified that for M1 category of vehicles (which have less than 8 seats) the speed should be 70 KMPH, for motorcycles it should be 60 KMPH and for autos it should be 50 KMPH. But the ministry also stated that the speed limits can be managed and altered by the state and local governments based on the traffic conditions.