[rjalihal]

I don't blame the truck drivers. Blame the truck owners. Its their job to ensure their vehicles are in a good condition. It is really dangerous, especially on narrow roads. In Bangalore, you can find plenty of sand lorries this way. Moreover even their license plates are covered with dirt!

[mooza]

Originally Posted by jaspal singh

Yes these truck drivers make sure that the headlights are working(not always though!), because its definitely related to their safety, but they are least bothered about the tail lights/brake lights.

Good point there, Jaspal !

On a lighter vein, this point inspired me to search out a link below :

HowStuffWorks "How Fiber Optics Work"

I feel that the tail lights should be connected to the headlights through optic fibre cables, so that whenever the headlights are on, the tail lights get illuminated too, even if the truck driver wishes otherwise . At least we could spot slow moving trucks easily this way. But this will not work for breakdown trucks with headlights off.

Reflectors are of course, the best option, but, like tail lights, they tend to get blanked out with dust & mud, and need to be cleaned often. Enforcement of rules for clear visibility is the key here.

[gopal.prabhu1]

If you have noticed the new trucks on our highways - all of them have the red reflective stickers all along with width of the rear gate. This makes them so much easier to spot from a distance, especially when on a motorcycle.

[girishglg]

Wanted to bring this issues which has been lingering for a long time and has prompted this thread to highlight the seriousness of the problem.
Consider these real life and potentially life threatening incidents-

- My friends car - Esteem got sucked into rear of a BMTC ordinary bus only because he could not break on time as there was no warning from the bus since the break lights were dysfunctional.
- Had bumped my scooter to the rear of the bus again a BMTC just because the bus veered to on side (near a stop) and braked suddenly without any warning in terms of break light and side indicator.

I have seem umpteen number of buses of KSRTC, BMTC, APSRTC, TNSC, umpteen trucks and many private bus operators (especially those inter state ones short haul) that have either non functional rear lights or broken ones or contraptions such as red painted metal coverings in the place of light consoles

Not sure if there is any kind of check or regulations to make these guys comply and wonder what happens in the annual inspection by motor inspector to renew the road worthiness certificate.

Fellow citizens who have similar views please post your comments and pics to highlight the issues.

[souravc]

A very important issue is being highlighted here , thank you for starting the thread ! Non functional back lights and brake lights are quite common especially amongst the heavy vehicles and its very dangerous , especially considering that few Indian roads have adequate lights .

Given that authorities do not crackdown on these morons , in spite of the law allowing them to do so - I always try to maintain a safe distance and safe speed so that there is adequate time available for emergency situations .

[SirAlec]

always keep a safe distance. Thats the best way to cope with this. This is one of very common rule that is not enforced.

Also heavy vehicle of all sorts should have guard rails on all four sides. Its mandatory now. But who follows. When fitness of these vehicle are done with just Rs.350 bribe, without even inspecting the vehicle. Its common in all RTO districts.

[SS-Traveller]

It's a game we play as a family when travelling on the highway at night. We count buses & trucks. And we count the number that have non-functional tail lamps. Statistically, between 40% and 60% of all HTVs do not have working tail lamps, depending on the region of the country we are travelling in.

Interesting observation: During a night drive across Thailand recently, there was not a single vehicle at all with non-functional tail lamps.

[hvkumar]

With the number of bribes that truckers pay to cops across the country so that they are permitted to pass - why would they bother to spend money on repairing tail lights?!?! Every trucker must have paid every day to cops for not having tail lamps and many such offences - if one thing is OK, cops find some other pretext to extort money from truckers, so why would you expect them to comply with the law when they are being fleeced by the law-enforcers daily?

I agree with the point on not having rear tail lights, but maybe you should see the contrary point of view. When there is no law enforcement machinery in the country, why
expect just one section of the population to comply with laws?

[knaveen]

Originally Posted by souravc

A very important issue is being highlighted here , thank you for starting the thread ! Non functional back lights and brake lights are quite common especially amongst the heavy vehicles and its very dangerous , especially considering that few Indian roads have adequate lights .

Given that authorities do not crackdown on these morons , in spite of the law allowing them to do so - I always try to maintain a safe distance and safe speed so that there is adequate time available for emergency situations .

Most of the vehicles are owned/Maintained by Govt. controlled bodies. Hence "cracking down on these morons" means i guess the person who issues FC or checks for FC from these Govt. Bodies. I guess the cops usually do not stop or question a bus driver or conductor for the bus being bad, i have never seen any. Umpteen times i have seen buses jumping signal and dodging people who are following signals .
On a sidenote, forget disfunctional, have you seen dump trucks (that carry garbage) WITH tail lights?

[Durango Dude]

I think with experience you'll come to recognize to keep a safe distance while tailing a heavy vehicle without functioning rear lights....or you'll end with the bonnet of your car under the bus/lorry in front. Two wheeler's have to be doubly careful or you end up hitting the vehicle in front with your head or body with serious consequences. Best would be to overtake this vehicle at the first instance. It may be OT here but I have had the horrendous experience of following a concrete mixer that was spraying its mix on the road behind , kept a safe distance and then raced ahead at the first opportunity. These are the idiosyncrasies of traffic in our country, don't worry its going to remain the same; what we can do learn to live with it.

[smashnerd]

Another problem I've encountered is trucks with functioning taillights that have protective grills covering the lights. They are most often made out of metal strips and almost obscure the tail lights. This is also as dangerous as not having functioning tail lights.

[souravc]

A related topic - I feel really bugged by the cabbies and autos turning off their headlights and driving on the street. As it is their colour combination is a disaster , most of the body is coloured black and it makes them hard to detect in the pathetically lit roads . They are barely visible on the rear view mirror when approaching from behind if their headlight is off ( their sidelights are useless ) and given their penchance of fitting every nook and corner however close they maybe to putting an ugly scratch on one's beloved car I would think of the practice of switching off the headlight as hazardous .
I have uploaded a picture , trying to depict how a taxi may look on the rear view in the evening on the poorly lit streets - I guess if we make the picture a couple of shades darker it would reflect the reality in a more apt manner !
And yes , the pre-historic padmini cabs often treat backlights and brake lights as accessories rather than essentials - just throw the autos into the mix with their N degrees of freedom and we have our perfect daily drive

[girishglg]

Originally Posted by SirAlec

always keep a safe distance. Thats the best way to cope with this. This is one of very common rule that is not enforced.

Yes the best thing is to be safe than sorry. After the incidents have started keeping good distances from those BMTC demons everyday.

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

It's a game we play as a family when travelling on the highway at night. We count buses & trucks. And we count the number that have non-functional tail lamps. Statistically, between 40% and 60% of all HTVs do not have working tail lamps, depending on the region of the country we are travelling in.

The main issue is these heavy vehicle drivers feel the need of a headlight but some how think its not all necessary to have any other indication such as blinkers (turn indicators) or break lights. Worse these vehicles does not have even any kind of reflectors or radium stickers most of the times.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

When there is no law enforcement machinery in the country, why expect just one section of the population to comply with laws?

Understand the point of view but its no excuse at least for so called 'Government Vehicles' - state transport undertakings etc to at least implement such a simple measure. See the state of these buses banged and battered on every sheet of metal on the outside. Feels sad to see these pieces of metal in such a bad state.

Originally Posted by souravc

A related topic - I feel really bugged by the cabbies and autos turning off their headlights and driving on the street.

+1 on this, the rickshaw light don't even run on batteries (only some new ones) which adds to the dark runabouts risking ever one on the roads.

[gthang]

Interesting topic.

Non functioning tail/brake lights is a serious hazard which every Indian motorist faces everyday almost everywhere.

Just like the rest of the "system", this is a broken part of Indian life which is not easy to fix. It is very easy to blame the truck drivers, the truck owners, the RTO officials, and several examples and characteristics can be quoted, but will not change things one bit.

I dont think the truck drivers, owners or RTO are to be blamed for this, to be honest. Any idea how poorly wired the electrical systems on any commercial vehicle in India is? Even an alert and proactive driver will be fed up with the constant fused bulbs due to voltage/current spikes the truck wiring creates.

The blame lies squarely on the truck manufacturers for not giving a hoot about safety and selling barebones chassis to local bodybuilders so that they can put another hazard on the road.

There is a simple and easy fix. Ever noticed that on some trucks, even if any brake light/tail light , indicator, even headlight is not working, the lamp lighting the Ganesha/Cross/Crescent is always lit? The little red and green leds are constantly glowing, aren't they? Probably because they have a very simple diode in the circuit.

Why cant manufacturers/auto ancillary industry make an affordable led brake/tail light assembly? They are a few in the market, but they are to International spec, and very expensive. Why not a cheap one, using a cluster of basic leds similiar to the one lighting the Almighty?

Hopefully someone will see the light.

Cheers.

Drive/Ride Safe.

[girishglg]

Originally Posted by gthang

Interesting topic.

The blame lies squarely on the truck manufacturers for not giving a hoot about safety and selling barebones chassis to local bodybuilders so that they can put another hazard on the road.

+1 on that. Not only the rear light assemblies are flimsily wired but they are way below in the body of the vehicle. Another option is to place them higher up on the rear of buses (maybe below the rear glass) which will not get damaged on nicks and shunts on a regular basis and have a simple LED assembly of hazard light at the present location similar to the ones seem in the DTC Green buses these days near the rear bumper.