Telangana goes slow on ORR speed

Hyderabad: Back in February, Chief Secretary S.P. Singh said that the speed limit on the Outer Ring Road should be reduced from 120 kmph to 100 kmph to curb the spate of accidents.

Dozens of people have died on the ORR in the meantime. Mr Singh’s order has still not been implemented.

The HMDA has now written to the government to release of a notification to reduce the speed limit, and is awaiting a final nod.

According to sources, officials of the municipal administration and urban development department are in consultation with their colleagues in the roads and buildings department to issue the notification.

The sticking point is a legal issue: The speed limit on highways is fixed at 80 kmph. Legal opinion is being sought to release the notification to curb the maximum speed on the ORR to 100 kmph.

A HMDA official said the road was built in such a manner that the maximum speed limit for safe travel was 120 kmph. That was why the speed limit had been kept at that level.

“Although there is no problem with road engineering, human error and overspeeding were found to be the main reason for a majority of accidents that occured on the ORR in the last few years. Hence the government wanted the cap to be reduced by 20 kmph from the existing speed limit,” the official said.

Once the notification is issued, traffic police will start penalising those who speed on the ORR.

The traffic police wings of Cyberabad and Rachakonda are being equipped with speed laser guns and breath analysers for effective enforcement.

The HMDA is also procuring speed guns from its budget to hand over to the traffic police. 

Three speed laser guns were handed over to Rachakonda police recently and few more laser guns will be given to Cyberabad police in the coming days.

The HMDA will take up an awareness campaign on revised speed limit for a week or 10 days after which enforcement drives will start. It is expected that the notification on speed limit will be issued by then.