The Growing Concerns for Speed Limiter Devices

India tops the list when it comes to road fatalities and accidents. Data shared by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways  revealed an increase of 4.6% in the total accident fatalities in the country, from 139,671 in 2014 to 146,133 in 2015. The analysis of road accident data in 2015 reveals that motorised vehicles accounted for 95.5% of the total road accidents. Amongst the vehicle categories, two-wheelers accounted for the highest share in total road accidents (28.8%) in 2015 followed by cars, jeeps and taxis (23.6%); trucks, tempos, tractors and other articulated vehicles (19.7%), other motor vehicles (9%), buses (8.3%) and auto rickshaws (6.1%).

Installation of Speed Limiter Device in the vehicles needs to be carried out on a large basis. As it is already proved that, speed governors are the best solution to the increasing road accidents. The main intended goal of speed limiter is to reduce speeding related violations and thereby reduce the crashes that affect human lives. In addition, it includes to reduce top speed, reduce overall speeding above posted speed limits, reduce tire wear, increase fuel economy etc.

There is a false concern among the fleet owners that speed limiters will impact  the delivery time and its inability to accelerate during safety events. These have to be seriously addressed by the officials and awareness steps needs to be carried out to them on the impacts of speed governors. Studies shows that setting the limiters to 60, 65, or 68(kmph) would save lives and reduce fuel use. Drivers have more reaction time, resulting in fewer accidents and near ­misses. We’ve also realized lower maintenance costs, improved fuel economy and a reduction in greenhouse ­gas emissions through the use of governors. The speed-rate may vary according to the road standards, type of vehicle, towns or cities Safety, posted speed limit; fuel mileage, insurance requirements etc could determine the governor speed in the fleet.

Container vehicles carry the heaviest loads, and small increases in their speed have larger effects on the force of impact in a crash. Speed is a major contributor to truck accidents, and by reducing speeds, we believe we can contribute to a reduction in accidents and fatalities on our highways. Research findings indicate significant expected improvement in the road safety level with the use of speed limiters. Larger headways between following vehicles, thus providing drivers more time to react to unexpected events, less lane changing and a reduction in overtaking situations, resulting in a smaller number of conflicts between vehicles. There is linear relationship between accident involvement rate in fatal accident and the increase in the percentage of heavy vehicles with speed limiters, it reduces the fatal accident involvement rate.
The trend of increasing deaths reiterates the fact that road users must be protected through a comprehensive legislation with new technologies. The roads need to be made a safer zone in the near future and the role of Speed limiters in this is indispensable.

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