COIMBATORE: With rash driving and illegal vehicle modification, particulary involving altered silencers and improper or missing number plates, raising serious concerns in Coimbatore, the public have demanded the police to conduct special drives against those vehicles that lack number plates or those with defective or concealed ones.
According to sources, the youth involved in such crimes often modify their vehicles with foldable number plates to avoid getting caught by the police. While altered or loud silencers breach noise and emission standards, foldable and complete removal of number plates facilitates evasion of traffic violations and criminal activities. There are devices sold online and offline as magnetic or adjustable tail tidies, which are marketed for style but are frequently used to avoid detection, said sources.
K Praveen Shankar, associate professor of a private college, said these violations have been on the rise in the city and many college students engage in rash and negligent riding by hiding or removing their number plates. "Recently, two youth on a bike, who were rash driving, rammed into a car on Tiruchy Road. Instead of apologising for their fault, they threatened the car driver and assaulted him. When the victim alerted the police, the bikers fled," he said.
"In such cases, checking the dash camera of the car is of no use as there is no number plate. Police cannot trace the biker without the vehicle's registration number," Shankar said, and urged the police to crackdown on such crimes and impose hefty fines on the violators.
Police personnel themselves admit to the prevalence of these violations. According to a senior police officer, These practices are especially prevalent among youngsters who modify their two-wheelers for style, thrill-seeking, or to evade police monitoring during rash driving, illegal racing, stunts, or even crimes such as chain-snatching.
"Loud silencers produce excessive noise beyond permissible limits that disturb the regular traffic, while foldable, concealed, or missing number plates make it difficult for us to identify vehicles through CCTV, ANPR cameras, or routine checks. Even though we have technologies, we cannot identify the offenders without number plates," the officer said.
It may be noted that the Coimbatore City Police have conducted multiple special drives over the years to address traffic violations. When contacted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Coimbatore city, S Ashok Kumar assured to take necessary measures to address the issue.