With over-speeding and rash driving contributing to a sizable chunk of road accident fatalities in Odisha, the State Transport Authority (STA) set the speed limit ceiling on the motorists and motorcyclists on the National and State Highways.

While close to 1.5 lakh people lose their lives in road accidents across the country every year, Odisha contributes annually to around 5,000 road accident fatalities despite the apex court’s directives to reduce road accidents deaths by 10% every year.

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The latest notification issued by STA the speed limit for motorcycles at 60 kilometres per hour (kmph) on the four-lane and above divided carriageway (roads with median strips/dividers).

On stretches of National and State Highways passing through the Municipal and NAC area, motorcycles can move at a maximum speed of 30 kmph. Similarly, the limit is set at 50 kmph for motorcycles in other NHs and SHs in the State.

Motor vehicles used for the carriage of persons comprising not more than eight seats in addition to the driver (non-transport) can run at a speed of 100 kmph on four-lane and above divided carriageway (roads with median strips/dividers), 50 kmph on stretches of National and State Highways passing through Municipal and NAC area and 60 kmph on other NHS and SHs.

The maximum speed limit of motor vehicles used for the carriage of persons/passengers comprising nine or more seats in addition to the driver (transport and non-transport) has been fixed at 80, 50 and 60 kmph respectively for different categories of roads.

Vehicles used for the carriage of goods can run at a maximum speed of 60, 30 and 50 on such categories of roads.

Three-wheeled (passenger and goods) vehicles speed limit has been set at 40, 30 and 30 kmph for four lanes and above the divided carriageway, stretches passing through Municipal and Notified Area Council area and other NHS and SHs respectively.

Over 90% of road accidents being registered in Odisha are due to reckless over-speeding while 75 per cent of people who are losing their lives in road accidents in the State were in the prime of their youth.

This apart, drunken driving, driving on the wrong side against the motor vehicle act provisions and use of mobile phones while driving has also contributed towards the rising graph of road accidents in the State, said State Transport Authority (STA) officials.