[akshay380]

How many of those tractors lumbering in fast lane on Old Madras road early mornings have a visible rear light/numberplate or sometimes even both headlights functioning properly? I was horrified seeing a Scorpio doing ELC to avoid crashing into the tractor.
I had complained so many times on Bangalore Police facebook page along with snaps but they seem to be sleeping.

[simplyself]

The RTA in Andhra Pradesh had made it mandatory to have a reflective sticker on the rear and the sides and the front. White reflective sticker is for the front portion, yellow for the sides and the red for the rear. Pretty effective during the nights. These stickers are put during the annual fitness check. Usually, most survive for the year.

[sgiitk]

Originally Posted by simplyself

The RTA in Andhra Pradesh had made it mandatory to have a reflective sticker on the rear and the sides and the front. White reflective sticker is for the front portion, yellow for the sides and the red for the rear. Pretty effective during the nights. These stickers are put during the annual fitness check. Usually, most survive for the year.

Excellent, but we should also have lights. Stickers are not that effective in fog or rain but are definitely better than nothing.

[simplyself]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Excellent, but we should also have lights. Stickers are not that effective in fog or rain but are definitely better than nothing.

I have seen these stickers doing excellent job. These stickers are not the ordinary "radium" stickers which are usually used for name plates, number plates etc. These are highly reflective, with pyramidal patterns within the sticker. These better than the parking lights of a vehicle. Only the hazard flashers are better than these. But the sheer length of the sticker which runs all along the length and breadth of the vehicle makes it very effective and is very useful in case of malfunctioning tail lights. These even dominate the tail lights even if they are functioning.

[Sid-O]

Recently I've noticed that practically 90 % of the MTC and SETC buses have no lights at the rear what so ever and many Privately run B7R's are also in the same state.. this makes things very complicated especially at night as one has no idea practically what the guy is doing at the front.

[anjan_c2007]

Try to read the number plate. Apart from the tail lights and brake lights in a non working mode, this is a new way of concealing the numbers.

[sgiitk]

Yes, anjanda. They do not want you to read the number! Also, I am spotting a lot of tempos (in Kanpur they are all Vikrams) with no rear lights (forget the indicators). Also, We have another (not safety related) problem. All City tempos must be CNG. I lot of rural tempos have got themselves painted in the same colours with CNG painted at the back.

[Ricky_63]

In Gurgaon I have seen that most commercial vehicles now have reflective RED tape at the rear 3-4 foot long strip, and a YELLOW one running the length of the vehicle on both sides. This is definately a step in the right direction..

Unfortunately though, the tractor trolleys are still not following this & with no lights to talk of (front or back), they are the MOST dangerous vehicles to be driven at night..

Why is it so difficult for the traffic cops to impound such vehicles or fine them in thousands - so that they ensure they have working lights not just on the tractor but also on the trolleys they tow. It would go a long way in averting accidents, hazardous ones at that.

[anjan_c2007]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

Yes, anjanda. They do not want you to read the number! Also, I am spotting a lot of tempos (in Kanpur they are all Vikrams) with no rear lights (forget the indicators). Also, We have another (not safety related) problem. All City tempos must be CNG. I lot of rural tempos have got themselves painted in the same colours with CNG painted at the back.

True sgiitk, these are quite unsafe and the drivers/owners do not realise and wait for tragedies to happen.

Originally Posted by Ricky_63

In Gurgaon I have seen that most commercial vehicles now have reflective RED tape at the rear 3-4 foot long strip, and a YELLOW one running the length of the vehicle on both sides. This is definately a step in the right direction..

Unfortunately though, the tractor trolleys are still not following this & with no lights to talk of (front or back), they are the MOST dangerous vehicles to be driven at night..

Why is it so difficult for the traffic cops to impound such vehicles or fine them in thousands - so that they ensure they have working lights not just on the tractor but also on the trolleys they tow. It would go a long way in averting accidents, hazardous ones at that.

The law enforcers are callous too and wake up when tragedy strikes.
Some pictures from Gurgaon:

The good

The bad and ugly

And the very ugly (a tractor trolley).

[jaspal singh]

Hi,
Are there any stringent provisions in -The draft Road Transport and Safety Bill 2014 which proposed new Act to replace the existing road safety legislative framework.
Hope the new law has provisions to come down heavily on commercial vehicle drivers , driving without working tail lights.

[MSC]

This is a major cause of accidents in India. Just imagine a situation.
You are cruising at 80 odd kmph on any National Highway. Things look absolutely wonderful with you hoping to be home at earliest . All of sudden a truck with no rear lights crops up from nowhere . Just thinking only sends shivers down the spine.
To make the matter worse most of trucks either do not have the rear underbody run protection bar . In newer versions the truckers get this bar removed for their convenient loading of trucks .
Law enforcement agencies always turn a blind eye toward it .

[sgiitk]

@MSC; I know a case where a couple both died when their Zen went into a truck with no lights on the rear. This was over a decade ago.

[humyum]

During a highway trip to Leh a year and half back, we were passing through Punjab in the night. Punjab has this culture of trailers being matched onto tractors. They chug along at slow speeds and none of them had ANY tail lights ever. Even the normal trucks had no tail lights. I hardly ever saw any heavy vehicle with a working tail light there.

Imagine this, someone who wears glasses, even if his eye power has changed by 0.50, 110% you can't make out these tail less monsters in the night and you are in for an imminent crash. Let's face it, everyone does not have 6/6 vision always, sometimes your number changes and u don't know about it, sometimes you have glasses and u don't know about it.

I keep getting my eyes checked every few months and even a 0.25 power difference an d I get new glasses made.

During this trip to Leh I mentioned above, while we were passing through Punjab at night, my friend had 0.25 in one eye and 0.50 in another and since he was sleepy, he removed his glasses and was merely looking forward without caring much. I saw the trucks atleast a good 80 to 100 meters before he saw them. This can be a difference between life and death.

[jaspal singh]

Originally Posted by MSC

This is a major cause of accidents in India. Just imagine a situation.
You are cruising at 80 odd kmph on any National Highway. Things look absolutely wonderful with you hoping to be home at earliest . All of sudden a truck with no rear lights crops up from nowhere . Just thinking only sends shivers down the spine.
To make the matter worse most of trucks either do not have the rear underbody run protection bar . In newer versions the truckers get this bar removed for their convenient loading of trucks .
Law enforcement agencies always turn a blind eye toward it .

Police really needs to crack down on such trucks/buses other commercial vehicles which are regularly seen plying on indian roads without working tail lights.
these vehicles are a hazard on not just National highways, but city roads as well . No amount of alertness can save you from crash in a situation where a standing/ slow moving vehicle suddenly appears in front of you even if you are driving within speed limits.

Commercial Vehicle manufacturers too cannot shy away from their responsibility, as i feel tail/ brake light assembly of indian commercial vehicles is of extremely poor quality

Underbody run protection bar comes into picture after the crash has happened , but working taillights reduce chances of such crashes.

[carwatcher]

Not only Trucks, yesterday night when I was going to and fro Airport, came across two Govt. local buses with absolutely no tail-lamps or reflectors, I was shocked. Also they have very huge LED boards which are supposed to indicate the route but even that wasn't working.
We are talking about this in 2015 is really shameful.