Dynamic Speed Regulation In India: Legal Imperatives, Technological Integration, And Adaptive Enforcement For Safer Roads
- IJLLR Journal
- Mar 28
- 2 min read
Vishnu Sarat, Christ (Deemed to be University) Lavasa
1.1 Background
India has a very vast and growing network of roads. India must improve its road safety, pollution reduction, and traffic management. India has just 1% of the global vehicle population but accounts for the highest number of accident-related deaths in the world. According to recent data, more than 11% of world road casualties happen in India and over 150,000 deaths every year due to accidents in the road transport industry1. This alarming number is further disturbed by the fact that road transport forms a significant source of pollution, especially in urban areas. These factors contribute to the inefficiency of traffic flow and consist of problems of static speed limits that do not consider the changes in conditions that prevail in the system. Road congestion also contributes to high fuel consumption, emission levels, and accidents. Almost all of these problems can be dealt with by dynamic speed regulations.
Currently, speed regulation in India is mainly static, where the limit set by speed does not change during conditions, weather, or the hour of the day. However, traffic patterns change significantly as the day progresses, and the roads remain relatively empty during nighttime or off-peak hours. Under such dynamic conditions, enforcing a constant speed limit makes little sense and is counterproductive for reducing accidents and pollution.
1.2 Problem Statement
The lack of flexibility in India's speed regulation mechanism causes this nation to suffer from high accident rates and increased environmental concerns. Static limits are not adapted to realtime conditions and produce a gap between driving speed and the safest or most efficient speed for the moment. Worse, these static limits tend to be enforced without regard for dynamic conditions, such as minimal congestion or clear nighttime conditions, causing driver frustration and non-compliance.
It does not use modern technological solutions like dynamic speed regulation that changes the speed limits in real time according to traffic, weather, and road conditions.
