July deadline for commercial vehicles to install speed governors

Bhubaneswar: In a bid to minimise the number of road mishaps, the State Transport department has set July 31 as the deadline for all commercial transport vehicles such as trucks, buses, goods carriages and mini buses to install speed governors (a device to limit the vehicle’s maximum speed) and limit their speed to 80 km per hour.

According to a recent notification of the department, the maximum speed in tankers, school buses, dumpers and transport vehicles carrying hazardous goods will be limited at 60 kmph.

Vehicles registered prior to October 1, 2015 and not fitted with the speed governors shall be equipped of fitted with a speed governor verified and certified by a Testing Agency, the notification said.

“We will see that the guidelines mentioned in the notification are followed strictly and any departure from this will attract heavy penalty,” Transport minister Ramesh Majhi said.

However fire tenders, ambulances and police vehicles do not need to install such speed limiters, official sources said.

Though the Ministry of road transport and highways had notified installation of speed limiters last April, the State transport department sent the proposal to the government in February this year. Transport officials attributed the delay in the implementation of the scheme to non-availability of speed governors in the market.

"Besides, we also conducted meetings with several stakeholders such as bus and truck owners' associations seeking their suggestions before sending the proposal to the government," said an official.