Hyderabad: Rear view mirrors must be open

Hyderabad: There are many rules that people are not aware of until the department concerned takes some action based on them. One such rule is that closing the outside rear view mirror of your vehicle is a punishable offence according to the Motor Vehicle Act. Experts opine that 80 per cent of the drivers are not aware of these rules.

The mirror should be positioned in a way that your vehicle visibility is minimum and other vehicles which are towards your left or right are visible clearly. While you are taking a turn, the mirror and your shoulder level should move accordingly and you should overtake the other vehicle from the right. But most drivers overtake from the left side as they are not aware of the techniques.

Dheerandera Samineni, Road Safety expert said, “We have to keep both sides of the mirror open. If you buy a car at a low price they don’t provide a mirror. When driving or turning, the left mirror is very important. At night, the headlights of the vehicle coming behind you will hit the eyes. Then you can tilt the mirror at a certain angle so that you can observe the vehicle which is following you. The Department Office concerned should ensure that no vehicle hits the road without a mirror.”

Salauddin,Telangana, a Four Wheeler Drivers Association, who are creating awareness about the importance of usage of the mirrors, opined that unless officials take action (recently they imposed a fine Rs 1500 for giving lift to unknown people) people won’t know about the rules. He said, “According to the Motor Vehicle Act, the side mirror should be placed at an angle of 30 degrees such that we can see vehicles which are following us at 20 feet distance. When taking turns it can be very helpful. Most of the accidents occur during turns because drivers fail to use side mirrors.”

Nitin Nair, a resident of Mumbai who was fined for giving lift, said in social post, “On June 18, 2018, when I was on my way to office, I saw few office goers near Airoli Circle desperately looking for a lift as it was raining heavily and all public transport was either crowded or late. One of them was an elderly (at least 60+) person and other two guys were working for a reputed IT company (I could make out from their Office ID card). I stopped by the side of the road. They said that they wanted to go to Gandhi Nagar. I asked them to get in, as Gandhi Nagar was on my way to the office. The moment they got in and I started the car, one traffic police officer in a towing vehicle waylaid me and asked me to show him my license. At first, I thought that probably I stopped in a no parking area. The police officer then started to write a receipt and asked me to hand over my license to him. I asked him for the reason to which he said, “It is illegal to give a lift to unknown people,” (sic). Section 66 of the MV Act says that a person is not allowed to use his vehicle as a transport vehicle.