VISAKHAPATNAM: As many as 631 modified silencers that were being illegally used by motorcycles and had been seized by Vizag city traffic police at various locations in the city were crushed under road roller on Sunday to spread awareness against noise pollution and a silent warning against the violators.
In the past few years, the craze for loud silencers has gone high among the youngsters, especially those riding Royal Enfield, Duke, and other high-end bikes in the city. Several citizens had drawn the attention of the police with regards to the noisy bikes.
We have formed special teams to crack down on all those vehicles that used modified silencers which resulted in noise pollution. The teams have seized modified silencers from over 600 motorcycles, city police chief Ch Srikanth.
The use of modified silencers is aggravating the noise pollution situation and causing a lot of disturbance to the public in the city. The craze could be gauged from the fact that youngsters are now choosing silencer first before buying bikes, says an employee working with a bike spare part shop.
The original silencer of the Royal Enfield and other high-end bikes give a fur sound, but many users of these bikes are altering the silencers to get thumping sounds to draw the attention and it has become a style statement among the youths.
The motorcycles were released back to their owners only after the replacement of their original silencers. The vehicles were also impounded until their owners returned with original silencers and got those fitted.
The police said that they have initiated action against such motorcyclists under provisions of the Motor Vehicles Act. Most motorcycles seized were Pulsar, Royal Enfield, and a few others high end bikes.
The prime objective behind destroying the modified silencers was that they can never be reused. Noise pollution created due to the use of such modified silencers negatively impacts senior citizens, medical patients and children, the police added.
BIKE RACING
Twelve youngsters were nabbed for bike racing and performing stunts on bikes on beach road in Vizag city. Based on the credible information, we have formed a special team to bust the bike racking. We have seized seven bikes, the police added.
