Speed governors fail to discipline motorists
Monday, 21/05/2012
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120521/punjab.htm#7
Speed governors installed in commercial vehicles to check over-speeding do not last even a single day after the vehicle is passed and granted a certificate by the Motor Vehicle Inspector (MVI) for its commercial use.
To escape the law, drivers and owners of most trucks and canters disconnect the speed governing system.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the state government to install speed governors in all commercial vehicles registered in Punjab in the wake of increasing road mishaps.
Subsequently, the equipment was installed in more than 3,000 commercial vehicles in Moga, but in more than 90 per cent of the vehicles, these are non-functional. A survey by The Tribune revealed that the speed governor was found functioning only in one out of 10 vehicles in the district. A speed governor reduces the supply of fuel to the fuel pump to limit vehicle’s speed, but once its connection is cut off, the vehicle can run at a high speed as per the engine capacity.
Speed governors were also non-functional in the two vehicles involved in an accident on the Moga-Ferozepur highway on May 7 which claimed 18 lives.
Jaswant Singh Dhillon, officiating District Transport Officer, claimed that the MVI did not pass any commercial vehicle without a working speed governor.
