NEW DELHI: You may soon have to remove crash guards or bull bar from vehicles as the
transport ministry has asked the state governments to take action, saying they pose danger to both pedestrians and occupants and are in violation of the
Motor Vehicles Act.
According to Motor Vehicles Act, "No owner of a motor vehicle shall so alter the vehicle that the particulars contained in the certificate of registration are at variance with those originally specified by the manufacturer." Violation of this provision attracts Rs 1,000 fine for first offence and Rs 2,000 for subsequent offence.
The ministry said, "The fitment of crash guard/ bull bar on the vehicles pose serious safety concerns to the pedestrians as well as occupants of the vehicle."
Interestingly, many of the government vehicles across states and Centre have the crash guard/bull bars. Vehicle owners often install them to reduce damage to the cars.
A ministry official said in case of a crash involving such vehicles, the impact is disproportionately distributed and thus airbags may not open to save the occupants.
Road safety expert
Rohit Baluja said such fitments pose risk to everybody outside and pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are the most vulnerable. "Every car has a design approval and nothing should be allowed beyond this. Crash guards are often jutting out of the vehicle and can hit anyone. At a time when we are designing cars to reduce
impact of crash on pedestrians, such practice must be stopped," Baluja added.
TOI has learnt that in view of the increasing demand,
automobile manufacturers are selling bull bars as part of the vehicle.
According to government data, nearly half of the people killed on Indian roads in 2016 were pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. A total of about 70,000 people from this category were killed last year.
