Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, on Friday began penalising vehicles that crossed the 30km per hour speed limit on campus to save deer and other animals from getting hit. With speed-breakers making no impact, security personnel armed with speed guns were reining in speeding vehicles, said IIT-M director Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi.
The IIT administration has posted its security personnel at vantage points on the institute campus to check the speed of incoming vehicles, and if found over speeding, they make them pay a penalty of Rs 25 for two wheelers and Rs 100 for cars.
“Vehicles entering our campus get a gate pass on which the maximum permissible speed limit on campus is printed. The speed restriction has always been there, but we have implemented it from today,” institute sources said.
The sources also pointed out that several faculty members were surprised when their vehicles were stopped for over speeding. “As they are institute faculty they were warned about the new rule and let off without a penalty, but from tomorrow they too will be penalised,” said sources.
IIT-M director Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi said that speed breakers were not acting as a deterrent for motorists. “Deer and other animals on campus get injured when these speeding vehicles hit them. We have put this system in place to save the animals,” he said.
The system has gone down well with faculty and students too. “It’s a good initiative, we have taken up this matter several times with the institute administration, and they have implemented it today, finally,” a faculty member said.
