Hyderabad: Cops sternly enforce rear view mirror rule

Chikkadapally: The Section 5&7 of Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, states that all two-wheelers must have two rear view mirrors. As this Act was never in effective force, motorists have all these years been neglecting the mandate.

However, traffic police are now issuing challans to the motorists for not having rear view mirrors and this act of the department has garnered a lot of criticism as citizens feel that they are being burdened with the unnecessary challans.

Raj Shekhar, an IT employee stated, "The police are issuing such challans just to fill their reserves. Collecting challans of Rs 135 on the pretext of not having rear view mirror clearly states the intention of police department that they just want to burn the common man's pocket.

Also, the issuance of challans for not having rear-view mirrors was pioneered by the Cyberabad police commissionerate and now the Hyderabad police commissionerate is also following in the footsteps."

The pandemic and lockdown have already unleashed a lot of imbalance in the society as many people lost jobs and there is no employment in the market. In this scenario, is it important for the police to collect the challans for not having rear-view mirror? questioned Krishna, a photographer.

"The police department is given targets to collect as many challans as possible to fill their coffers. But the department should have a humanitarian approach now because common man is suffering with the price rise on petrol, diesel and gas and on top of it such petty challans will be of more burden," he added.

In January, the traffic police department in Delhi put out a notification where it observed that it has become common practice for two-wheeler users in the national capital to ride without rear view mirrors.

In order to help educate motorists as well as encourage compliance, the West Delhi Police department held in a drive from January 13 to 23, 2021, wherein it said it would levy fines on two-wheeler riders for using the vehicle without rear-view mirrors, said a cop on condition of anonymity.

He noted, "The traffic police have been following the rules prescribed in the Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 for the safety of motorists. Such a step is taken only to ensure traffic discipline and reduce accidents because most riders are unaware that riding without mirrors is a violation of traffic rules."