Bengaluru traffic police have seized more than 1,156 modified motorcycle silencers in just three days, as part of a special drive.
Happy with the success of this campaign, which began after cops were flooded with complaints of noise pollution, traffic police are now planning a sustainable campaign.
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Although campaigns against defective silencers are not new in the city, the renewed campaign has a catch. The fine for using a defective silencer is Rs 100 and this hasn’t been a great deterrent, according to the police. To work around this problem, cops are booking cases under a different, stringent provision of the law.
According to the Motor Vehicles Act, alteration of any vehicle beyond the original manufacturer’s specifications, is a violation. The punishment for this violation is a court-prescribed fine, forfeiture of equipment and a case slapped on the rider.
The fine could be as high as Rs 2,000, which is more than the cost of many modified silencers.
The campaign against defective silencers took prominence in 2016 when Bengaluru cops booked 1951 cases. As the craze for bikes in the city increased, so did the number of cases. In 2017, 5,053 cases were booked and in 2018, in seven months, the total number of cases reached 3,777.
Despite traffic police’s campaign, the menace of the loud silencers didn’t come down. “We realised the Rs 100 fine was not a deterrent. Many would pay the fine and continue riding. When we looked up the Motor Vehicles Act, we realised that any modified silencer amounts to alteration of the vehicle. So, we started sending bikers to court,” said a senior traffic police officer.
Cops are using Section 190 (2) in the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, to seize the silencers and slap higher fines.
The alteration of the vehicle is defined in Section 52 of the Motor Vehicle Act. Which states: “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.”
The new section used by Bengaluru cops, however, comes with some loopholes. The criteria for booking vehicles for alteration is changing the original design of the motorcycle.
However, the decibel levels for several imported vehicles such a Harley Davidson, Triumph and several sports bikes are on the higher end, but they don’t come under the specific section of Motor Vehicles Act, as they are original manufacturers’ design. And riders are not happy about it, especially the Royal Enfield fans.
Another commuter even argued that two-stroke autorickshaws contributed to the noise pollution more than motorcycles.
While several riders in Bengaluru have surrendered their modified silencers to the cops to avoid the court, the spare parts market in the city hasn’t seen a drop in the numbers. According to shop owners, despite the crackdown, bike silencers are selling like hot cakes.
Shopkeepers in JC Colony, Bengaluru’s auto spare parts hub, said the demand for modified silencers continue to thrive. “We sell around 7-10 silencers a day. The numbers haven’t come down. People generally change back to old silencers during such campaigns and replace them once the police drive over,” said one of the shopkeepers.
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