Highway # 61, Revisited

There is this laughable news that our government is all set to raise the speed limit on highways from 60kmph to 100kmph.

I suspect a sinister motive behind this: they want to solve the “population problem.”

As an expert in the news report says: a truck does 250 km a day in India, compared to 700km per day in Brazil and Mexico (both Third World nations).

This is because our highways are not world class. Rather, they are third rate.

100 kmph on these third rate highways that carry 45 per cent of all freight is suicidal.

If we are serious about improving transport efficiency we must build brand new modern highways.

I can speak of my experiences on the autobahns of Germany – the world’s most famous highways.

Once, in a big Mercedes with a baby in the back seat, we took the slow lane at a sedate 120 kmph.

On another occasion, in a Porsche Carrera without any baby, we clocked 235 kmph in a “no speed limit” section.

That’s right.

There are signs that indicate “No Speed Limit” on certain stretches of the autobahn.

Now, that’s what we call a highway.

And that’s what we call speed.

And that’s what we call safety too.

So the government of India’s 100kmph speed limit is meaningless blather. No car or truck can maintain such a speed on our “notional highways.” If they do, they will surely crash, if not into an oncoming car, then definitely into an oncoming cow.

So, while the arch-socialist Amartya Sen waxes eloquent on “education” as the medicine India needs, I insist that public investments must be made in a modern roads and highway network.

Highways should be top priority, not this bogus education.