Speed governors made mandatory for lorries transporting sand, laterite stones in Udupi

The Udupi District Road Safety Authority has made installing speed governors mandatory for lorries transporting sand, laterite stones and other materials. The speed limit for these vehicles in Udupi district will be 60 kmph.

In a press release, Udupi Superintendent of Police Hariram Shankar said all six-wheelers and larger vehicles transporting minerals within Udupi district will have to compulsorily install speed governors to limit speed to 60 kmph. The order was passed exercising the power vested in the authority under Rule 118 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, he said.

Mr. Shankar said a 10-day period will be given to lorry drivers to install speed governors, and pamphlets will be distributed to ensure everyone is informed about the new requirement.

Similarly, January 20 is the deadline for buses to install doors; after that, non-compliant buses will be penalised or seized.

Speeding lorries, he said, was the point of agenda in the last Road Safety Authority meeting. Rash and negligent driving of these lorries are leading to fatal accidents, which has led the authority to make speed governors mandatory, he said.

Mr. Shankar referred to an accident reported in Hangaluru village in Kundapur taluk on Wednesday, January 7, in which a scooterist, Krishnamurthy Adiga, died. Mr. Shankar stated that the driver of the lorry, which was transporting sand from Kundapur to Udupi, was accused of hitting the scooter, resulting in Adiga’s death. The Kundapur Traffic police registered a case against the lorry driver under Sections 281 and 106(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Hariram Shankar
| Photo Credit:
UMESH S. SHETTIGAR

Other case

Further, the Kundapur Rural police booked three persons in connection with an accident involving a mud-filled lorry and a KSRTC bus on Talluru-Neralakatte road on January 5. As many as 39 persons were injured, including two with serious injuries. Apart from the lorry driver, Raghavendra, who is undergoing treatment in the hospital, the police booked the owner of the lorry and Shridhar Sherigar, who was accused of illegally filling mud in the lorry. All three were accused of offences under Sections 110, 303(2) of BNS, Sections 4(1A), 21(4) of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, and Sections 183, 146, 192 and 182 Indian Motor Vehicles Act. Sherigar was arrested and produced before the jurisdictional magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody, the police said.