[magneto]

Friends ,
I have been noticing a dangerous trend , where i see young children , standing on the front seat with half the body sticking out of the sunroof .
You also notice this on marine drive and Bandra and the sea link where the cars are driven pretty fast with the kids shouting and waving to cars around them .
This is a very dangerous situation where the kid can be thrown out of the car on an emergency braking or in case of an accident .
I hope that the RTO makes note of this and makes it an offence .
Members please note that this is a very serious offence in most countries , and this behavior also shows how irresponsible and ignorant an indian driver is in general .

[Maverick79]

Originally Posted by magneto

Friends ,
I have been noticing a dangerous trend , where i see young children , standing on the front seat with half the body sticking out of the sunroof .
You also notice this on marine drive and Bandra and the sea link where the cars are driven pretty fast with the kids shouting and waving to cars around them .
This is a very dangerous situation where the kid can be thrown out of the car on an emergency braking or in case of an accident .
I hope that the RTO makes note of this and makes it an offence .
Members please note that this is a very serious offence in most countries , and this behavior also shows how irresponsible and ignorant an indian driver is in general .

Totally agree with you on such a luxury feature being miss used in India. I have seen similar cases in Chennai Marina beach road. Couldn't take a snap though. Found those kids throwing away the empty packets of their eateries.
Some kind of regulation needed on the speeds atleast, when people are standing through these sun roofs.

[moralfibre]

A very very very important thread! Thanks for initiating this.

I have noticed this trend in almost all cars with a sunroof. I am sure, most users are unaware on the actual purpose of a sun roof. It's not uncommon to see a German luxury car with 3-4 kids popping out their head through the roof.

Possible consequences:

• A stone lodged from the tyres of a car could cause severe head injuries.
• A quick maneuver resulting in a topple could kill them mercilessly.
• In almost all cases loss of life is evident.

I hope this thread reaches out to most road users who label this activity as entertainment on weekends.

The driver should be punished and put into Jail for encouraging these sort of activities while he is driving. if the driver is an employee then the owner should be arrested and the vehicle should be seized.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by magneto

Friends ,
Members please note that this is a very serious offence in most countries , and this behavior also shows how irresponsible and ignorant an indian driver is in general .

Classic scenario! What do you expect when the owner of such a car is a first gen nouveau riche arriviste with absolutely minimal education and/ or probably basic first gen exposure to powered automotive transport? Added to this, we Indians simply don't respect the law, rules and other regulations because we have an innate belief that we are generally above all these things and they apply only to the next chap!
Only a hard lesson in the form of an accident will make these chaps see reason. On the other hand, life is generally quite cheap in India so it may make a news item in one of the papers, to be discarded and forgotten a day or two later as just one more statistic!
Sorry for being sarcastic but this is just how things are in this dear and great country of ours, the famous banana republic, with mango people, as per the description by the great Lord and Emperor Roberto Vader...

[SDP]

Originally Posted by magneto

Friends ,
I have been noticing a dangerous trend , where i see young children , standing on the front seat with half the body sticking out of the sunroof .
You also notice this on marine drive and Bandra and the sea link where the cars are driven pretty fast with the kids shouting and waving to cars around them .
This is a very dangerous situation where the kid can be thrown out of the car on an emergency braking or in case of an accident .
I hope that the RTO makes note of this and makes it an offence .
Members please note that this is a very serious offence in most countries , and this behavior also shows how irresponsible and ignorant an indian driver is in general .

While the point is valid in terms of misuse of the sunroofs and the dangerous trend, I shrug at the thought of getting RTO (or for that matter any other govy agency) involved in this.

Do you remember seeing Yamaha R1s with saree guards?
If RTO gets involved, they would most likely force owners to install a window-grill (with a additional fine mesh) on their sunroofs.

[MHG]

That is very risky!

• If an accident occurs, due to force of sudden deceleration the kids would experience broken ribs at the minimum!
• If the kids are in the process of sticking their head up or in the process of lowering it down the sun roof and the car does any sudden maneuver (not necessarily an accident-like situation), kids can experience a broken neck!
• If kids slip due to slippery front seat, again their necks are under risk!
• Far more common danger than this is kids sticking their heads out of windows and waving! Especially in Indian traffic conditions, this is like courting death!

I'm sure no parent would wish ill of their child. If parents cannot be directly educated, RTO should make acts like these as punishable offences. An Rs. 2000 fine is nothing compared to chance to save their kids' lives!

[sumeethaldankar]

why the sunroof, i have seen people doing stunts by sitting on the windows with glass rolled down in a swift.I guess people in general irrespective of whether the car has a sun roof or not needed to be educated about road safety and safe driving.Frankly this attitude towards safety does not belong to any particular class or creed in India.I am sure all of have seen overcrowded rickshaws,overloaded buses, the 3-idiots inspired 3 on 1 two-wheeler's all of whom remind us that safety is taken for granted.

[Swanand Inamdar]

Very apt, a thread taking into consideration that all and sundry are doing this nowadays. While, it may be fun for a kid, the parents are actually putting him/her in harms way!
Points made by Moralfibre are absolutely legit.
This does need to be made a traffic offence.

What gets my goat is, adults doing this. You could see live examples in cities, especially over the weekends. Friday and Saturday nights in particular.

[rajanprash]

One more of the threats is that children standing out maybe hit by the branch of a tree or some falling object. I think most of the luxury car models would have this as a warning.
This is a dangerous phenomenon. I think that luxury car sellers in India should particularly tell the buyer not to do these kind of activities.
P.S.: Is there any such law against this in Western or European countries.

[SDP]

Not trying to defend the insane behavior, but trying to bring out a few more angles.

1. Hollywood movies showing limos - people standing out from the sunroof - enjoying night life in a city like New York or Las Vegas - balloons and glasses with special liquids in hand - shouting their lungs out. I believe, that's what made standing out from sunroofs fashionable and glamorous.

2. A disturbing observation is - Isn't the shape, size and overall design of a typical sunroof suggest one of its intended use as to stand with part of your body outside the car. I mean, if you want sunlight, a non-openable transparent/semi-transparent window on the roof would have sufficed. If you want wind in your hair as well, a narrow slit in the roof would have done that job. So, if the sunroofs are designed and given by the manufacturers so that people can stand and have part of their body out of the car, isn't that a problem with the car manufacturers (more than the customers)?

[promit]

A very apt thread.
Just a couple of days back, I was on the mg road on my way home to gurgaon. My friend and I were following a white q5 on temp plates. Must have just collected it from the showroom. The car was touching 80-90. A kid had half his body out of the panoramic sunroof. He was standing on the rear seat. All we could do was slow down and move off, didnt want to be following this car for obvious reasons.
We pulled up alongside this q5 at the next red light. I was shaking my head with disbelief. There was a man, his wife, two kids and their grandmother. The little boy couldn't have been more than 5 years old! Talk about being ignorant and clueless about the use of a sunroof and about the safety of ones own son.

[akshay4587]

I agree, and this is pretty common in chandigarh, and even cops dont mind this behaviour, another common thing mentioned by someone else in this thread, is boys and girls hanging out from doors with windows rolled down.

In layman terms it is as risky as riding a two wheeler without a helmet.

[apachelongbow]

As is people dont follow basic law like wearing seatbelts and helmets which are meant to save lives. Why bother the RTO/police by making one more law stating standing and peeking out of sunroof/moon roof in mobile car is illegal or something to that effect. It will just increase grease money for the local havaldar.
My take is: if the parents are not bothered about the safety of their most precious creation/offspring, it doesnt matter to me if the child is stoned, lobotomized or suffers a broken spine because he is jumping about in his daddy's bmw.

[noopster]

I am absolutely at a loss how people who allow such behaviour from their kids even qualify to be called parents. Then I remember parenthood is one job that you need the least qualifications for!

It is also a reflection of how indulgent the urban affluent classes have become with respect to our offspring. There is a feeling of guilt at not being able to spend enough time with them, and this results in overcompensation perhaps. I know of 7 year olds who carry a mobile phone to their school & daycare. But at least that won't kill them. This madness will.

My little girl loves sunroofs and it is a must-have on our "next car" wishlist. But we'e taken the pains to explain how dangerous putting your head out of the window is, and a sunroof doubly so. So every time we spot some child (and occasionally an adult) with their head out the sunroof, she points it out and tells us how dangerous it is. Kids actually have a strong self-preservation instinct, it's adults who foolishly think they are immortal.

Idiots.