KOCHI: When a vlogger posted a video recorded from inside the driver’s cabin of a moving contract carriage, decked out with unauthorised after-market multi-coloured LED, laser, neon lights, and flashlights, it quickly amassed hundreds of views and likes. But, one particular viewer of the YouTube video, titled ‘Trend with Zedone - Singam x Villan’, proved fateful.
A High Court division bench focused on motor vehicle rule violations deemed the video an offence and directed authorities to take action against the vlogger. Highlighting the issue’s prevalence, the court viewed similar YouTube videos and criticised the motor vehicles department (MVD) for failing to take prompt action.
The bench, comprising Justices Anil K Narendran and Harisankar V Menon, held that the ‘Trend with Zedone’ video, in which the driver and passengers in the ‘driver’s cabin’ were seen enjoying loud music, showed the flouting of safety requirements under Regulation 5(10) of the Motor Vehicles (Driving) Regulations, 2017.
The HC viewed another popular video on an ‘auto show’ in an engineering college in which a large number of cars with unauthorised fittings, including exhaust systems and protruding wheel arches, are seen engaged in drifting. The court said the use of such vehicles was illegal and in violation of its order. The blinking multi-coloured LED/laser lights, etc., fitted on contract carriages violated safety standards prescribed under AIS-008 and even AIS-052 Code of Practice for Bus Body Design and Approval, it said.
They can stun drivers of oncoming vehicles and pedestrians, and pose a threat to other road users, the bench said. The HC held that the registration certificate of such vehicles is liable to be cancelled.