Let’s limit the speed and not be limited by “Speed Limits”

The Autobahn in Germany has no speed limit, and you can redline and pick the fast lane and drive as fast as your heartbeats can handle

Only some cars can pull off a dark shade of pink, and if that comes with a tag of being the most expensive Bentley ever produced, then it just begins to look like the best colour ever! Bentley Batur Mulliner is not every day and for everybody’s car, and I doubt if any ladies and gentlemen in India will seek its allocation and sign a cheque amount  north of INR 16 Crores. The Batur can do a 0-100 in 3.5 seconds; cars are getting faster and fancier, and speed limits and ticket amounts are higher and stricter. I recently drove the Rolls Royce Ghost, and touched 105 Kmph for 5 minutes because the silent V12 can confuse you inside the cabin and disorient you to believe you are driving at much lesser speeds. The result is a speed ticket of 650 Dhm, translating into almost INR 15,000 for the first time, and it keeps going up depending on the speed and number of times. The speed limit on that stretch of road was 80 kph, and an excess of 20 kph is graciously allowed in Dubai. I know people who have supercars in Dubai and regularly pay INR 5-10 lakhs monthly fines. First, they can afford it. Secondly, supercars and ultra-fast cars, with a slight nudge in the accelerator, can cross the limit without you knowing, and cameras are almost everywhere.

Ironically I was driving in Ho Chi Minh Sarani in Vietnam and had a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon; the roads were fabulous, but everyone maintained a selfimposed speed limit of 80-100 kmph on highways, and the speed cameras were insignificantly present. The Autobahn in Germany has no speed limit, and you can redline and pick the fast lane and drive as fast as your heartbeats can handle. Statistics in Germany say that accidents in autobahn vis - a- vis speed limit-induced roads are lesser. In India, we have speed limits, broken roads and, more importantly, vehicles of all shapes and sizes and only sometimes checked and not ready to handle speeds. Ultimately, it all boils down to people; by people, I mean the whole society. On the Autobahn, one knows that a high-speed lane will have no obstruction and no one will come from the side, and the tarmac will not have a single stone chip; it’s the belief that people driving parallel to you will maintain the lane discipline and the road maintenance ensures it’s smooth. It’s the belief system more than the speed limit system which we have to develop, and until that happens, speed limits in India are a must.

It’s monsoon now when the roads in our Country are in appalling and slippery condition; all the ‘great roads’ that municipal corporations usually make last one season so they can tender again and make the moolah. Did you know that iron manhole covers in India get stolen since it fetches nearly Rs 90,000 from the market? How much policing can stop that, and what technology can you implement to stop these manhole covers from being stolen is the question? It not only makes normal walking in already deplorable conditions of the road difficult, but imagine a car trying to speed, hitting it unknowingly, and the car tumbling over to other cars making a dangerous situation. But the thief would be interested in the Rs 90,000 even if that tumbling car hits them or their family members!

Drive safe this monsoon, and enjoy the monsoons!