CHENNAI: Six months after a crackdown by the city police, banned bull bars and crash guards are back on government and private vehicles in Chennai. Among the violating vehicles are those of state ministers and legislators that drive in to Fort St George for the ongoing assembly session.
Most of the cars and Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) carry these illegal fittings which have the potential to stop the deployment of airbags during road accidents.
Airbag sensors are usually mounted at the front of the vehicle, behind the bumpers or headlights. If a steel guard is placed in front of the chassis, it might affect the triggering of sensors. Besides this, such protruding objects are unsafe for pedestrians too The Madras high court in December banned use of such guards on the front end of the car chassis or frame and directed the state transport department to enforce the rule.
Transport and police authorities carried out a campaign against these fittings and imposed penalties on Rs 1,000 on violators. On highway routes, police made car owners remove these extra fittings on the spot.
Then chief secretary K Shanmugham wrote to government officers asking them to remove such fittings from their official vehicles. But not many obeyed. While the state transport department claim to be taking action under sections 190 and 191 of Motor Vehicle Act, private and government vehicles continue to violate the rule. Some of the vehicles sport specially designed bars for what some call ‘road presence’.
Transportation activist K Kathirmathiyon said the government should show the will to stop these violations. “The government can’t expect courts to intervene every two months. It should take action against such offences continuously just like how police acted against motorbike riders without helmets,” he said. A large number of violators are politicians and government officials, he said.
Advocate A Sreenivasan said that attaching such illegal accessories might affect the insurance claim amount. Motor vehicle accident claims' tribunals in the past have reduced accident compensation amounts if vehicles were fitted with unauthorised fittings like bars or steel guards.
