Hyderabad: Speed demons, beware. For the traffic cops are hard at work and a challan might come your way if you speed through roads without caring for speed limits. However, commuters are complaining that Hyderabad traffic police is booking them for speeding even though the speed limit boards in Jubilee Hills and other areas are “barely readable”.
The city has a speed limit of 20 to 50 km per hour on most main roads. Recently, the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) directed commuters to maintain a speed limit of 100km/per hour on ORR to avoid road accidents due to over-speeding.As per the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988, displaying the number in a red circle indicates the speed limit; there is no need to put the words “speed limit” on the sign board. According to the Act, every driver of a motor vehicle should drive the vehicle in conformity with any indication given by mandatory signs. Not obeying these signs is an offence.
But commuters are complaining that they’re being pulled up for no fault of theirsMr Ramanjeet Singh, who got challaned for speeding near Jubilee check post, said, “The speed limit board in Jubilee Hills is barely readable, but police is still prosecuting people. The road has two boards – one says 50 and the other, just after 100 metres, says 40? And how can we have boards in the middle of the road?’’The sign boards, Mr. Singh and other commuters say, should be erected at the beginning of the road to show what speed limit applies there.
“The speed limit should be mentioned properly and should be visible,” he said. Mr Sohail Nayyar, an IT professional from Hyderabad, agreed. “Unfortunately, our traffic department is focusing on their challan deadlines rather than the sign boards and other road safety measures. Many of the signboards are rusted and can’t be read,” Mr. Nayyar complained.
The police disagrees. Jubilee Hills traffic inspector Srinivas Reddy said, “There are speed limit sign boards in Jubilee Hills till NTR Bhavan. They are quite readable. But I will personally check this road again for the speed limit sign boards.”
But Mr T. Raghunath, joint transport commissioner, administration, had a different take. “Reading traffic signboards is obviously one of the prerequisites to pass the driving licence test. But if people are getting challaned for over-speeding without them being alerted by sign boards, it’s not acceptable. It is true that there are not enough speed limit boards in Hyderabad. Even the few we have are not properly maintained,” Mr Raghunath said.
