What impact does the Tour H1’s speed limiter have on real world driving and is it really making our roads safer?
The Maruti Tour H1 is fitted with a speed limiting function which limits the top speed of the vehicle to 80 km/h. However, an important safety feature for commercial vehicles in India mandates this feature, which is to prevent excessive speeding and improve road safety. But its implementation has been a contentious issue among drivers, safety experts and everyday commuters. Others say the speed limiter makes highway driving dangerous, because the Tour H1 can’t match the speed of faster traffic or overtake efficiently. Some say it's a lifesaving safety feature that forces taxi drivers to drive safer speeds. They also argue that the limiter impacts how the car operates in urban areas, where no more than 80 km/h is ever reached. Some also wonder if there’s an easy way to get around the speed limiter, so a false sense of security could occur. So, let’s take a deeper dive into how this feature influences day to day driving and if it is actually making the roads safer, or simply causing new problems.
I’ve driven a Tour H1 for work, and I can tell you that speed limiter is more trouble than it’s worth. Try merging onto a highway when you are capped at 80 km/h while everyone else is doing 100+ km/h. Sometimes it’s downright scary!
You're missing entirely the point. It’s there to save lives, simple as that. If 80 km/h feels scary to merge into, perhaps everyone else is driving too fast. It's not about slapping a band aid solution on it, it's about changing the culture of speeding.
I get both sides, but hey, how many times in Indian traffic does a taxi really need to go over 80 km/h? In cities, it's a non-issue. On highways it probably does more good than harm, keeping lead footed drivers in check.
The speed limiter itself isn't the problem, it's a lack of proper infrastructure. This wouldn't be an issue if we had dedicated lanes for slower vehicles on highways. But to blame the Tour H1 is just to ignore the bigger problems with our road system.
I actually like it as a passenger, because you know the taxi can't go over 80 km/h. When you're in the back of the cab late at night, it's one less thing to worry about. And it probably gets better fuel efficiency, which is good for everyone.
You're all forgetting how easy it is to bypass these limiters. It's something any halfway decent mechanic can disable in minutes. Now you have a false sense of security and drivers who might try even harder because they think they are 'safe' with the limiter.
I think the real issue is that we're trying to use a technical solution to solve a human problem. Why not better driver training, and stricter enforcement of traffic laws? In the long term that would make much bigger difference.
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Discussions and Questions What Impact Does The Tour H1s Speed Limiter Have On Real World Driving And Is It Really Making Our Roads Safer
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