Need to install speed governors in commercial vehicles stressed

The State has been asked to install speed governors in commercial vehicles through proper bidding and eligibility criteria process to adhere to the directive of the Supreme Court.

“Such a procedure followed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka will assure quality of the speed governor, guarantee, and check corruption and tampering of the gadget,” Member, National Road Safety Council, Kamal Soi, told a press conference here on Tuesday. Kerala has around 15 lakh commercial vehicles, the largest in the country. Commercial vehicles were involved in 40 per cent of the accidents taking place in the State and installing speed governors could reduce the fatalities and accidents by 20 per cent, he said.

Quoting the road accident statistics of the SCRB for 2014, he said speeding by commercial vehicles had played a major role in road accident fatalities in the State. “Due to lack of proper implementation and enforcement, the desired results for installation of speed governors could not be achieved,” he said. Mr. Soi said 70 per cent of the road accidents were caused by drivers having poor educational qualification, especially those who had not studied up to Class X. “The illiterates are killing the literates on the road,” he pointed out.

As in new commercial vehicles hitting the road with inbuilt state-of-the-art speed governors, Mr. Soi said, the gadgets should have MIS and RFID tag for the law enforcers to keep track of the vehicle and speed while they are moving.

The Road Safety Council member said the deadline set by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for installing speed governors as per the Supreme Court order for vehicles registered prior to October 2015 was April 1.

Mr. Soi met the State Transport Commissioner and officials of the Motor Vehicles Department and discussed the issue. He asked the MVD to expedite the tender eligibility criteria process.

The speed limit fixed for commercial vehicles is 80 km per hour. The insurance companies had stopped entertaining the claims of vehicles not fitted with speed governors, he added.