Kerala - Kochi   

Many vehicles operate sans speed governors

KOCHI: Heavy vehicles without speed governors continue to ply on State roads despite the government making it mandatory.

Records available with the State Transport Commissionerate suggest that hundreds of vehicles operate on the road without speed governors.

Senior Regional Transport officials told The Hindu that chances of the lorry that ran into a Congress rally at Pothanikad near Kothamangalam on Thursday having speed governor were remote, as the instrument would have become operational at a speed above 60 kilometres per hour.

Official records showed that 90,000 heavy vehicles were registered with the Transport Department as on March 31, 2007. Of these, 70,621 are now operating. According to records available as on December 4, 2007, only 66,784 vehicles have been fitted with speed governors. Of these, 27,067 are trucks, 20,334 are stage carriages including Kerala State Road Transport Corporation vehicles, 1,992 contract carriages, 14,953 tipper lorries and 1,970 educational institution buses.

The official records are conspicuously silent on the mechanical status of nearly 4,000 heavy vehicles. Also, information about 19,000 heavy vehicles, supposed to be not operating within the State, is also missing.

During a recent drive by the Kochi city police, more than 60 vehicles were taken into custody for not having speed governors. The majority of these vehicles was tipper lorries and inter-district private buses. The police drive soon lost steam. Many of the vehicles, especially private buses, were left off with strict warning.

Along with missing speed governors, drunk driving is also adding to the toll of accident victims.

“The punishment should be made more stringent. The present system of imposing fine for the offence only leads to drivers returning to the road the next day,” said M.N. Prabhakaran, former deputy transport commissioner, Ernakulam.

On March 23, a lorry driven by a drunk driver lost control and killed three persons at Angamali near here.

The accident occurred when the tipper lorry jumped over the median and ran into a car coming in the opposite direction. Again, the lorry was coming in a high speed.

Mr. Prabhakaran suggested that drivers found driving drunk and causing accidents should be disqualified for life, depending on the magnitude of the accident.

The Regional Transport officials admitted that they did not have the powers to arrest offenders booked under Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act, only the police could do that. This handicap, along with the faulty system of using breath-meters to gauge alcohol level in blood of drivers, is leading to repeated offences, they said.

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