State buses already in line with HC order

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday directed all goods and passenger vehicles plying in the State to fix speed governors. But, you may be surprised to know that Tamil Nadu was one among the pioneers in the country to introduce speed governors in Transport Corporation fleets, three decades back.In an attempt to control overspeeding, a major cause for road accidents, speed-monitoring instruments called Centhograph meter was installed in Transport Corporation buses during the early eights (1980s). The instrument would record different speed levels at which the vehicle was driven. Using the hard copy of the speed graph obtained from these instruments, officials would evaluate whether the driver indulged in overspeeding during his journey.However, as the Centhographs were tampered with, the transport authorities switched over to a new speed governor device called Dysicon Electronic Speed Regulator.  Unlike the Centhograph meters, Dysicon would control the speed to fixed limits, even if the driver presses the accelerator hard. For instance, a bus bound for Chennai from the districts cannot ply beyond a speed of 70 kmph, as the instrument would be tuned to this. The instrument will not allow to exceed the limit.  Interestingly, Dysicon had a unique feature, which allows the driver to increase speed for a minute to overtake other vehicles running at similar speed.When crew members started tampering with  Dysicon electronic speed regulator too, usage of speed governor was withdrawn later.Thereafter, the diesel pumps of the Transport Corporation fleets were sealed such that speed cannot be raised beyond a limit. Though the move was aimed at reducing the fuel consumption, it helped in a big way to control the speed.In modern Bharat Stage model fleets in Government sector speed is set electronically. If the speed limit in Bharat Stage IV fleet of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation is 50 kmph, it is 10 km more for Bharat Stage III buses plying in districts. “There are speed limits even for Volvo air-conditioned buses operated by the Transport Corporations. The speed limit is fixed using laptops,” a transport official claimed. While the Volvo fleets operate within Chennai city at 60 kmph, the speed limit is 80 kmph for intercity luxury coaches plying from Chennai to Kancheepuram, Puducherry, Hosur and Vellore, official sources added.